Turok Designer Set to Release Graphic Novel “Savage Empire”

Remember Turok? Did you like its plot and overall premise? If so, you might want to back Likes to Fight Studios’ Savage Empire graphic novel for more dinosaur goodness since it’s being made by the Senior Designer of Turok, Tim Lewinson.

Launched through Kickstarter on June 2, 2015, Savage Empire has already raised $3,000 of its $14,000 goal in its first day and is even backed by the likes of film and video game writer Gary Whitta (Telltale’s The Walking Dead Season One, Book of Eli), and Benjamin Birdie (webcomic The Rack).

Here’s what Savage Empire Writer and Producer Tim Lewinson had to say regarding the project:

I’m incredibly stoked to bring SAVAGE EMPIRE graphic novel forward to the public…My work as senior designer on “TUROK” was a dream come true, and unveiling my own high-action dinosaur story will make for an epic event. Tales of extraordinary people set against the backdrop of a living, breathing dinosaur ecosystem, filled with danger and adventure – what more could you ask for?

So, just what is the overall premise of Savage Empire? There’s dinosaurs, earthquakes and it involves California. You can read the full description below straight from the press release.

SAVAGE EMPIRE is the story of survival and redemption. A massive earthquake has shattered the West Coast, tearing a large swathe of California coastline free. At the quake’s epicenter, pulsing energy portals appear – random gateways to another world. Through these portals, ancient creatures reclaim their territory, killing indiscriminately and acting as harbingers of an even more malevolent force in the Pacific. A crack squad led by a high-ranking wetworks operative goes behind the lines to retrieve the technology that holds the key…and control the personnel responsible. The catch? This team is also the reluctant handler for one Non-State Actor – a man with his own agenda, with a drive and commitment far beyond the means of most.

If you think the premise is ripe for a video game adaptation, you’re not far off. Lewinson has plans to launch a game with the Savage Empire IP.

Eventually I’d like to bring this story to the game space and apply some of the lessons learned during the development of “TUROK…After sitting down a couple of years ago and doing my own post-mortem on T1/T2 and then breaking down the other dinosaur games released over the last 10 years or so, it was pretty obvious that the positioning of these apex predators was secondary to the game genre being established. Not necessarily a bad thing as many of the games were quite entertaining, but without making dinosaurs the central aspect as opposed to a gimmick, they weren’t being given their due.

I’m more concerned with a dinosaur title that put the terror of being surrounded by predators who can easily kill you, along with item/inventory management…Addition of destructible environments so the dinosaurs can actually smash through windows and doors, necessitating the use of barricades. Raptors that actually hunt using pack AI (we were working heavily on this in T2) and attempt to outsmart you. The player should be absolutely terrified of them – wandering around a jungle environment, hearing the rustles in the grass as unseen creatures dash around me, and that slow groin-tightening realization that you are the one being hunted. Using any environmental element to help you escape.

If you want any of this to happen down the road, then get out there and support the Kickstarter now! We can’t run before we walk, and it’ll demonstrate that dinosaur comics and games are where it’s at!

If you like what you’ve read so far, you can back the project right here. Who knows? We might be playing Savage Empire at some point down the road, and we can’t have enough dinosaur games, no?

Finally, PlayStation LifeStyle was given an exclusive unpublished .gif straight from Lewinson himself, which you can see below.

raptor-01

TRENDING