CHANGE – A Homeless survival game
If you became homeless… what would you do?
CHANGE is an emotional homeless survival experience set in a randomly generated city with rogue-like elements, from the creators of the award winning PONCHO.
KICKSTARTER
https://www.kickstarter.com/
- An endless city to explore filled with randomly generated npcs and environments, unique to every playthrough.
- Develop perks by experimenting with different methods of survival
- Beg, busk or work your way to finding a new home
- Randomly generated night events lets you develop your own story
- Find companions, find shelter, and forage for food
- A complete weather system will force you to adjust your survival strategy in rain and snow
- Build your own inventory with food, items for survival and more.
- Experience a beautifully composed emotional soundtrack
Why a game about homelessness?
At Delve Interactive, we only want to make games that are unique, pursuing ideas that no one else has before.
We first came onto the scene with our Puzzle platformer PONCHO. It was generally well received and even won some awards.
During PONCHOS’s development some years ago, Danny (Coder & designer) created a prototype of CHANGE in a 48 hour game jam. The result was surprising, people seemed to really enjoy the game and there were even some videos made about it:
We thought we were onto something, but at the time, we were still busy creating PONCHO. Once it was released, we moved straight onto CHANGE.
During PONCHO’s development, we were financially struggling throughout the entire process. The fact is, we knew that if it wasn’t for the generosity of friends and family, there is no doubt in our mind that some of us would have become homeless after putting all our cash into PONCHO. We were living week to week, couchsurfing and developing via a laptop at times, sometimes selling our possessions on Ebay or whatever to keep the development going. We came close, but luckily never experienced homelessness.
However, it made us think that this might be an interesting experience for our players who might want to see what they would do if they were homeless. We had already proven the design to work via the prototype, so we got started on turning it into a full game.
Almost 2 years since releasing PONCHO, here we are with our second game. Why a game about homelessness? Because we feel that it’s a new experience that niche players will want, as well as it being a subject that feels close to us.
We’ve done a ton of research into living on the streets. Everything in the game is reflection of that, we don’t pull any punches with the seriousness and the emotional aspects of homelessness and we don’t use any stereotypes of the matter. But at the same time this is a game that will leave it’s mark on players who delve into it and they will find it to be a gem that they will remember. It’s all about allowing players to answer the question: “If you became homeless… what would you do?”.
Can you trust us to build this game?
Yes! There have been a number of disappointing cases on Kickstarter in the last few years. People take funding and then fail to make the game, or run out of funding because their project is out of scope, etc.
We can assure you that this will not happen with CHANGE, for the following reasons:
- We already have an Alpha build ready, and we’re soon to move into beta. We’re not starting this thing from scratch. This is real.
- We ran a kickstarter for our previous game, PONCHO. It failed, but we still managed to release the game on multiple platforms. It just took a lot longer and we were much poorer.
- We’re not in this for the money, we want to make games. Every penny will go into CHANGE.
- We’re formed of experienced industry members, each with several years experience working in video games. We know how to make games and how long various tasks are gonna take.
Why such a small funding goal?
We know that games usually ask for much more than this. However, we also have personal savings that have made up the bulk of CHANGE’s funding, and this small amount is all we need to push us through to releasing the game. Without it, we may not be able to release for at least another year, if at all.
The funding will be spent on:
- Additional Art & animation
- Porting costs (Mobile, tablet, possibly consoles)
It’s a small list, but this is what we need from our Kickstarter. As you will see in the demo, there are still many areas of the game that require additional pixel art. With your help, we can make something that’s truly meaningful.
No stretch goals?
We’ve decided not to go with stretch goals. The game’s design is finished, and to add things or have things that can only be added with enough funding would only tarnish the design. In terms of porting the game to consoles, sure, if we get enough money then we’ll definitely pursue it. But we believe that reaching our initial goal is enough to create a finished game.
Release date?
Our current plan is to release the game on Steam and Tablets in late august, however, if we miss that window, then the next release date will be in January. Other platforms will follow after that depending on how people react to the game.
In closing
It’s finally time. We are almost ready to release something that no-one has been able to experience in a serious virtual environment before, and with your help, we’ll be able to make the final push to bring the CHANGE experience into your hands.
If you’re not sure, then try out the demo located at the top of this page, then head on back to make a pledge!
We hope that you’ll join us on our development journey, and in advance Danny & Jack would like to give our heartfelt thanks.
