Greenlit on 3 July and nearly complete, Rogue Invader is a isometric, rogue-like sidescroller beautifully rendered in 1-bit graphics.
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$3,501
pledged of $20,000 goal
Replay with sound
Greenlit on 3 July and nearly complete, Rogue Invader is a isometric, rogue-like sidescroller beautifully rendered in 1-bit graphics.
About this project
In Rogue Invader you are the invader attacking the alien horde in this genre-flipping rogue-like shooter. Game-play is smooth and resembles old-school isometric games, with modern touches and HD graphics. It releases on PC / Mac / Linux in late Fall 2015.
Every iconic movie and video game has music that matches it.
We searched for two months among talented and experienced composers for someone who could create deep and moving music and who shared our vision for what Rogue Invader will be. Caleb Blood exceeded all our expectations.
This is the demo track he created for Rogue Invader:
Immensely talented in multiple disciplines, Caleb started as a pop singer/songwriter/producer (see tracks 5-7 above), but quickly fell in love with instrumental composing. He spent the last 5 years focused on developing skills as an orchestral composer in the styles of Jesper Kyd (Assassin's Creed series), Hans Zimmer (Inception), JunkieXL (Mad Max: Fury Road).
Drawing on his pop background, Caleb specializes in hybrid compositions: blending acoustic, orchestral, and electronic elements, enabling him to create an incredibly wide array of music to immerse you in his worlds.
Our money is tight (we've both been living on savings for the last eight months), good composers aren't cheap, and Caleb is among the best.
With your assistance, we can provide Rogue Invader a soundtrack and sound effects to make the audio universe match what we've already built. The best part? It's all fully playable from the moment of release.
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1-bit graphics throughout, created at 720p resolution
- Every pixel is black or white.
- No pixel is grey or colored. (Interpolation is unavoidable at non-1280x720 resolutions.) -
Roguelike: every playthrough is different and death of a soldier is permanent
- Every choice you make matters
- Taking risks and playing differently might lead to success and easier future paths
- ...or it might kill you -
12 unique areas combining procedural generation and pre-created encounters
- Persistent damage--destroyed objects are rebuilt over several playthroughs - 6 enemy classes, each with three different personalities to provide different AI interactions during each launch
- Mini bosses and side quests that reward you for taking risks
- 8 cutscenes to provide background and exposition to drive plot and increase your involvement
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Vast modification options
- Collect 5 unique resources during invasion to rebuild your arsenal and ease future invasion runs
- 8 gun types, each with 1-6 modification slots
- 15+ modifications for guns
- 100s of combinations that provide usability unique to you and your play style - Original orchestral music score by Caleb Blood
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Make constant tradeoffs to win the invasion
- Bigger gun or more ammo?
- Use this gun now or beam it up to be studied?
- Run through a section or sit back and kill all the aliens?
- Risk destroying all your cover or collect more resources for the next soldier to use? -
Homeworlds of soldiers pay homage to nearly 100 sci-fi locations for the out and closeted sci-fi nerds
- Homeworlds provide soldiers perks -
Endlessly replayable
- Hunt achievements
- Search for secrets
- Improve the arsenal
- Explore the world
- Thumb your nose at King Zeno
The game is already awesome, and will be awesomer with your help and Caleb's music. But don't take our word for it.
"Complete with minibosses, sidequests, procedural generation and weapon modification."--PC Gamer
"Rogue Invader art style confounds my ability to form opinions."--Rock, Paper, Shotgun
"Players must choose whether to beam supplies up to the fleet, or to keep them – these decisions affect future plays, so decisions must be made carefully."--Indie Gaming Mag
"This game has an amazing concept, and is totally different from other games that come out these days." --GameSkinny
"It features a fairly deep customization system, allowing you to install different mods on your equipment and replacing parts for different effects."--IndieGames.com
"We’re immediately intrigued by the premise of a one-bit pixel shooter with rogue like arrangements and customization."--Front Towards Gamer
Rogue Invader is the childhood imagination of what video games should have been in the late '80s. Founder Nathan Rees would come home from playing video games at friends' homes and animate the things he had done on their systems using his Apple Macintosh.
This is the earliest version of Rogue Invader:
Replay with sound
Now, twenty years later, buff with incredibly honed animation skill, Nathan reimagined what he had created and asked Lee J Hinkle to come on board to program the game.
For the last eight months, the two have worked side-by-side to create a combination of art and games never before seen in such stunning beauty: a 1-bit game presented in 720p with smooth pixel-art animations.
Rogue Invader is scheduled for release in late Fall 2015.
We believe in open door policy. If you've got questions, we want you to know the answers. Ask us anything you want--some secrets need to be kept for game hype--but pretty much everything else is free game.
Ask questions in the comments section. While this is live, this is our primary focus, so we will try to answer quickly. Tweet us (@SquishyGamesCo) or send us an email at marketing@squishygames.com.
We value your questions, support, and interactions, so we will do everything possible to make you smile
Risks and challenges
Every game that launches on Kickstarter has certain risks, and the ones most often encountered are related to actually releasing the game and following through on stretch goals.
We won't make promises we can't keep, so here's how we've *already* limited your risks:
– The code is already written. The remaining work is in music and art creation.
– Rogue invader is Greenlit. It will be on Steam, and Humble has promised to distribute it as well.
– We have a targeted release date: late Fall 2015.
– Our stretch goals are practical and won't change the release date.
That said, *a few risks remain*:
– Not perfect by expected release. If the game isn't well-balanced and stunning to the eyes, ears, and touch, we will push back the release date. But it WILL be released. No question about it.
– Not making funding goal. The biggest risk to you as a potential player is not funding our project and leaving us to create music on our own. We would make terrible sounds. The Wilhelm scream for all deaths is not good enough. (See first demo.)
– Reliance on distribution channels. We are beholden to distributers (Steam, Humble) for a specific release date, but with your help here, we will likely put this in your hands before the end of 2015.
Thanks for passing by. Be sure to secure your Kickstarter Edition of Rogue Invader and its awesome soundtrack now.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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Yes, there is. It's an alpha demo, so there are some known bugs (and some unknown ones, most likely, so please email us things that break the game), but it's fully playable, and so far only one person who isn't Lee J or Nathan has made it through all the playable space.
You can download a copy of it at
http://www.indiedb.com/games/rogue-invader/downloads/rogue-invader-press-demo.
or
http://gamejolt.com/games/rogue-invader/66400Play it and tell us what you think.
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The Kickstarter Edition will provide you a few things:
- You get to play a full version of the game two weeks before anyone else
- You start with a few extra item slots at the beginning of the game (it won't made the game too much less difficult, we promise)
- You start with some additional resources to assist your crafting from the first launch(And you get a copy for a reduced price--no way of going wrong here.)
Rewards
Funding period
- (30 days)