Escape Hatch Entertainment President and Chief Creative Officer Garry Gaber realized his goal for the funding of an original space combat game, after having a Kickstarter come down to the wire. Garry previously wrote a guest post about Starlight Inception (PC & PS Vita) on PSLS readers and gave us an interview about his plans for the game. In this new interview, Garry talks about the Kickstarter experience, when fans might be able to expect to see the game, what Escape Hatch has planned for the future, and more.
How does it feel to have reached your Kickstarter goal? What was the Kickstarter experience like for Escape Hatch?
It feels great. At last count, only one in four Kickstarter games were making it to completion, and we feel honored and humbled to amongst those projects. Our backers and fans are the greatest – they really stuck by us when we were on the bubble, and have been wonderful since the Kickstarter ended – they are making it possible to move forward so solidly on this game.
The Kickstarter experience was at times exciting, at other times nerve-wracking. We had a great first push, then a large drop off in the middle, punctuated with a light at the end of the tunnel built around events (i.e coverage from TotalBiscuit on YouTube). But nothing on Earth (or space) could prepare us for the rollercoaster ride that was the last day…
Now that the goal has been reached, has development on the game itself begun yet?
Yes. We are in the process of shoring up our preproduction – designing the art of the game, working out details of the logo, coming up with cool features on the programming side, setting up voice talent, etc.
How has supporter input affected plans for the game? Will gamers continually be able to offer feedback on the game? Will progress on the game be transparent to the gaming community?
The backers will have access to art and announcements before others – they are free to witness what happens in the development of the game, and we will be establishing a backer-only forum for just that purpose. They will also have a voice in the making of the game, but only as far as a focus group – Escape Hatch will still have final say and make the tough decisions as we move through the process – it is virtually impossible for 3700+ backers to come to consensus on every decision, and it would paralyze the process if we tried to do so. But, we stand by our ‘break down the ivory tower’ rule – we want backers to feel like they are heard, and we will make every effort to explain decisions, and to listen to what they suggest, especially if those suggestions work within our design and development framework.
If the development process is going to be more transparent, will that mean more demos, betas, etc. than usually released for retail games?
Absolutely – we promised players gritty realism, and they will definitely see the making of the game as it occurs, including more demos, alphas and betas, if they so chose.
Is Escape Hatch going to work on the PC and Vita versions of Starlight Inception simultaneously or one at a time?
Simultaneously. The same engine will be used for both, the same assets, and the same coding. We will tweak the control scheme for both platforms, but the core assets and code will be shared from beginning to end.
Will Escape Hatch be using any middleware or middleware engines (Unity, PhyreEngine, etc.) to develop the game on PC or Vita?
Yes, we are using a proprietary middleware solution.
