1 + 1 = 2 - 1 = Lots to do.
Things have happened.
The programmer who came on to help finish up the game demo has left the project, with only a few weeks left of (part-time) work to complete. This, as you can imagine, effects the release schedule - the demo and KickStarter campaign was supposed to be launching August 20th.
That’s today.
That’s not happening.
But the game will still be completed. It needs to be. Too much time has been spent on the project to give up now.
A couple things I’ve needed to consider, and, other than the demo not being completed, there’s a few reasons to hold off on launch:
I don’t want to launch a KickStarter campaign without a playable demo. There are far too many projects on that site that never come to fruition. While I’m totally down with donating to fundraising campaigns for people with proven track records, I have a hard time handing money over to people who have never finished a game, even a small one.
While I have worked on and finished a few game projects, those were years ago before “indie games” were a thing and we still called two-person projects we managed to finish “shareware.” So, nobody knows who I am, at least in relation to videogames, and before I ask for your money I want to give you at least a small taste of what you’re donating towards.
I think that seems pretty fair.
I want you to know I’m not just going to take your money and run. I want you to experience a little of what’s planned so you can decide if you like it or not and it’s worth your donation.
I have a very, very, very specific vision in mind as to what kind of game Full Metal Pixel is. I miss 2D action/adventure games like the NES/SNES Zelda games, just as much as I miss straight-out action games like Robotron/SmashTV/Total Carnage/etc. and don’t really understand why there’s never been a real attempt to combine the two game genres and come out with something that appeals to a wider audience. Zelda with guns - that doesn’t sound all that difficult to achieve, does it? Well, turns out it is, but that’s what Full Metal Pixel needs to be to meet my vision, and that’s what I’ve been working on it for almost two years.
Science Fiction-themed games are, by and large, taking themselves too seriously. It’s almost like game story writers have forgotten that this literary genre has much deeper - and more interesting - roots than Starship Troopers. Where’s the mystery? Where’s the sense of excitement? And where in the hell is the actual exploration of space?
Go read some Andre Norton. Isaac Asimov, past the three laws of robotics. Go pick up some old issues of Amazing Stories from the 40s-60s - you can find them on eBay for as little as 2 bucks, and get a better dose of original storytelling and good ideas that just happen to take place on some far-flung alien planet. There are many stories to be told, but it’s easier to throw a suit of armor on some 8ft-tall bio-engineered weapon of war with no personality. The way science fiction is dealt with in games now is horrendous. There are no new ideas. It’s always the same thing, over and over and over and…
All that rantyness above leads to this: The goal with Full Metal Pixel is to bring back that sense of wonder, and the sense of exploration and telling very human stories in an unfamiliar setting. Space is awesome. Imagination is great. Adventure? Sign me up. I’m sick of space marines, and I’m pretty sure a lot of other people are too.
This project is my baby, and although I spent many years in my profession doing cool design work for literally the biggest companies in the world, no project I’ve ever undertaken, for someone else or for myself, has meant as much to me as this project does. I’ll happily continue to work two full-time jobs concurrently with part-time side gigs, not sleeping for days on end, to bring this project to fruition. Almost two years into it, and every moment I have to work on it is as exciting as the first time I managed to get a little sphere to move around and shoot cubes at differently-colored spheres.
In short, thanks for your patience. When the demo is ready and we’ve launched on KickStarter, I hope you’ll donate. It’s gonna be so fucking awesome.
You can ask questions by hitting the “ask questions, get answers!” button in the left menu, or you can use the contact form on the PixelMetal website.
- Nick
