MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
What’s your game?
Deep Space Mine is a simultaneous turn-based strategy game. Think the Settlers of Catan board game crossed with Offworld Trading Company. Players are competing over a randomly generated galaxy of planets in a farming war. You must tactically decide which planets to mine depending on the minerals you need and to gain points over your opponent.
Planets have different biomes, each with a unique mineral available from it, but the setup of planets within the galaxy will be different each time you play creating a greatly varied gameplay experience.
What has the Dare experience been like?
Intense. From the word go it’s been non-stop work to ensure we can deliver the best possible experience to players at Dare ProtoPlay and beyond.
The competition has been really exciting so far and I’m really proud of some of the incredible content my team has managed to produce so far. I know that if it wasn’t for this competition we’d never have had the motivation to work so hard, but also the invaluable advice we have received is something you can’t get anywhere else. I only wish the competition was longer!
What have you learned from Dare?
Defining all aspects of the game is really important. Our game has undergone a number of changes and only partially reflects the game we pitched at the very start.
It wasn’t just a case of probably being too ambitious, but perhaps it was the desire to get going that oversaw how the game would actually play, and so when we ultimately decided that changes were needed there was work that would then be scrapped which is simply a waste of time. We’ve managed to adapt our work into a ‘companion game’ which users can play separately which we think will be cool though.
Are you looking forward to ProtoPlay?
I can’t wait, but at the same time I’m a little nervous at this stage. There is still a bit of work to be done! Hopefully this is the first games event where we get to show our work of many and it will be a great learning experience for us as well a fantastic way to gain exposure and feedback.
What are your ambitions after Dare?
To rule the world, of course. In the shorter term we want to do a bit more to the game and then release it. If it only were that straightforward but I’m sure that will keep us busy for months ahead.
Follow Hello Sausage’s Deep Space Mine on Twitter @DSMGame and Facebook to learn more about their game.
Dare ProtoPlay and Indie Fest is on 13th-16th August in Dundee’s Caird Hall and City Square, with all 16 Dare student games on show, indie games, talks, workshops and more. www.dareprotoplay.com
Team members:
Alexander Dudok de Wit – Team Leader and Developer – City University
Billy Stickley – Artist – University for the Creative Arts
Joe Coggins – Artist – University for the Creative Arts
John Barber – Artist – University for the Creative Arts
Joe Tsang – Developer – City University
Jonny Cohen – Audio – London South Bank University
Marc Condy – Artist – Glasgow Caledonian University
