About
£41,347
1,229
This Dead Winter is a dark fantasy adventure game, set in ancient woodland gripped by an enduring winter. You’re one of the few remaining animals left, a bright red fox. Your cub mysteriously taken you embark on a journey through the ruins of a lost civilisation and into the heart of an otherworldly forest to get her back.
Search for your lost cub alone, or gain the help of a foxy friend if the multiplayer stretch goal is achieved. (Please check below for a preview of how multiplayer might work).
If funding is successful This Dead Winter will be scheduled to launch on Windows PC - Q4 2020.
Check out the social media links to keep up to date on all things This Dead Winter:(Pst.. The youtube link has a high-quality video available)
Before you start scrolling - I apologise in advance for the sheer amount of fox GIFs.
(I'm not really sorry, sorry)
Created by the extremely talented Nick Roder, check below for some of his music!
Extra console ports will be added beyond this final stretch goal.
The Switch Port (rough prototype) in action!
Please take a look at this gameplay of a very early version of multiplayer working in This Dead Winter:
The world of This Dead Winter has been described as hauntingly beautiful. Completely handcrafted, every asset in the game made from scratch for this unique world.
Varied and obsessively detailed, there's something to discover around every corner.
The core of the game takes place in a mysterious hanging valley - you've lived in the shadow of the valley your whole life until you're forced to travel to this strange place when your cub is taken to the heart of the forest that grows there.
I want you to feel part of the discovery of this seemingly ever-changing world. Featuring dynamic season changing, a metroidvania inspired world layout, secret areas and collectables. Continuously branch out and visit new places at your own pace in the valley, there will be no rush or timer placed on your discovery of this land.
The gameplay in This Dead Winter is inspired by the metroidvania genre. It will be based on gaining new and unexpected abilities that allow you to access different areas, overcome obstacles and solve puzzles.
As you travel through the hanging valley your fox is bestowed new abilities from the various inhabitants and ruins. Starting with a fiery dash that can be used to traverse your way around the world and possess creatures and places of fire.
You're far from alone in the world of This Dead Winter and can expect to run into various different characters, kind, malevolent and indifferent.
Hi! I'm Rob a solo indie developer based in Manchester UK. I first prototyped This Dead Winter during my final year at University in 2016 as a side project. After graduating I gained a job in industry as a technical artist. However, I wanted to take my old project further and so went part-time. Contracting and lecturing at University to earn a living whilst in my spare time, creating the game. This provided me with plenty of experience in project/time management both independent and mid-scale.
So! I saved up a bit of money and went full time on the game, scrapped much of the old project and some of what you see now is the result of 3 months full-time development. I've put my everything into making this game a reality, I now need your help to complete the project!
Nick is an extremely talented composer and musician who created that track in the trailer you hopefully just listened to! Please check out his portfolio of work here
and a piece from his sound cloud:
(The art book will be a fully realised digital book that you can find in game or as a standalone, a PDF will also be made. The digital book will be considered as an extension of the game and so the quality will reflect that)
(The begging robot is not there by coincidence)
Unfortunately money is needed to do just about everything these days, but fortunately Kickstarter exists and can make this game a reality! There are many roads to get a game funded, but only Kickstarter can provide such a great springboard for growing a strong community. It will enable me to share this project with everyone on a much more personal level then behind closed doors. It just felt like the right fit for me and This Dead Winter.
I've had a lot of interest from publishers over the time I've spent developing This Dead Winter but they couldn't offer the same creative freedom and community support Kickstarter could. That and 100% of the money earned can go back into making more cool projects like this.
First and foremost the obligatory pie chart:
As you can see I'm putting every last penny into development.
All the rewards are digital, this is intentional so every last bit of effort can go into creating a game you're proud of backing. I consider the digital rewards an extension of the game and will be held to the same standard of quality.
The development costs pay for my living expenses, sound effects and music. Dependent on the Kickstarter stretch goals, more people can come on board to help towards the extra content so we hit that Q4 2020 deadline.
This Dead Winter has been a passion project of mine for a while now but I'd like to make it our passion project instead, thank you for reading all this and I hope you enjoyed the copious amounts of fox GIFs (still not sorry).
Risks and challenges
No game in development from AAA to indie is without its risks I know this first hand having worked on commercial, well-managed projects.
I have poured everything into this project, created every asset, every line of code and most importantly each aspect of the game has been meticulously planned out and timelined.
Many of the games core features have been developed and what's left is planned and timelined. It'll be a hard road but one I can't wait to start on. I won't lie, there's always the possibility of a push back or a natural disaster wiping me and the backups out (hopefully not though). What I can say with absolute certainty is that I will always be transparent with every backer from any tier every step of the way. If you back This Dead Winter, you're getting on the rollercoaster that is development with me with some awesome highs and potentially a few lows (Let's hope for more highs than lows hey?).
Support
Funding period
- (30 days)