Space has always been the ultimate frontier and humanity took to the stars to explore them. Ships got lost and in time, forgotten. And yet they are still out there, waiting to be found to tell their story and you'll be there to listen...

You play as Aryn Vance, who is accompanied by her friend, pilot John Kindley. They are Salvage and Rescue operatives seeking old derelict spacecraft lost in time and in need of help.

During the game, John and Aryn set out on a routine salvage expedition of an unknown spacecraft reported to be somewhere in the Casiopea constellation.

Aryn will board these ships, not knowing exactly what to expect. She will have to rely on her helmet's APD Functions, installed with visual enhancements and the ability to inspect her surroundings, spot security cameras and interact with the control panels.

Aryn can also use the helmet's secondary function to see if her primary view is obstructed.

All of these functions need to be utilized in order to advance deeper into the spaceships and uncover their ultimate secrets.

Release Date: May 2017 (Steam, DRM-Free)

May 2017 (Steam, DRM-Free) Languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Russian

English, Spanish, German, French, Russian Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac

Windows, Linux, Mac Website: stardropgame.com





We are taking Virtual Reality very serious. We already have the in-house capability and experience to enable support for it as we're currently prototyping the new features that Epic has been implementing into the Unreal Engine.





Right now, we are looking at the HTC Vive, since it is fully supported through Steam and Unreal Engine 4.







The gameplay in STARDROP is made up of contextual components. This means that everything in the game has its place and there is a reason for why things are the way they are.

EXPLORATION

Exploring an old spaceship comes with a lot of excitement and wonder along with the mystery of simply not knowing what to expect. To accommodate that sense of excitement the game will be designed around that very principal.





STARDROP avoids repetition in its story and gameplay as much as possible. Every area should feels new and tells its own story.





INTERACTIVITY

All throughout these ships, there will be power generators, control panels, elevators, a security system to avoid as well as other various interactive objects and systems. All of it will add to the gameplay aspect and carefully integrated into the game's narrative.





RELATIVE NARRATIVE

While you interact with the world the narrative will be there to put it into context and things may happen that are unexpected. You are the driving force behind where you go and what you do the narrative will always be there to drive forth whatever it is you're doing.







During her career, Aryn has garnered quite a reputation, her company is well-known for finding ships that others have not been able to find. That's the reason she was able to establish a number of contacts with other high-end enterprises. And that impressive reputation means she's usually among the first ones to get inside information on missing ships before she attempt to find, retrieve or salvage them.











John became interested in spaceship design after he studied to be an engineer. He was at a loss on what to do after his degree except for his interest in seeking new adventures through space exploration. It was at this point he met Aryn, who was in the midst of setting up her company, and decided to join her.











While exploring these old ships, it's always worth a look to peek outside the window and soak up the amazing view of space.







The interior is as important as the exterior. A lot of attention goes to get the details right (the colors and tones of the settings) to enhance the experience of the game.







Open World mixed with traditional linear flow





When exploring the spacecraft, you get to wonder around and decide where to go and what to see. You'll be able to unlock doors to new areas or power up parts of a ship in order to interact with control panels and computer terminals that were previously powered down.







This open-ended structure mixed with the linear story line will keep the narrative focused and strong and will allow us to keep the story flowing where it needs to go.











As mentioned, STARDROP, is a highly narrative-driven structure but it doesn't mean limited or insufficient. We're always working to increase interactivity in every area so that YOU, the player, will get a lot of choices to explore and seek new adventures.





The APD helmet

The All-Purpose-Design (APD) helmet is where most of STARDROP's core mechanics are centralized. The helmet has various built-in functions to help Aryn solve a multitude of problems and situations she might encounter during her exploration.







The DataPad

Aryn's DataPad keeps track of her mission objectives. We keep the focus on the main objectives even with an open-ended structure and how the player solved the objective is up to them.







STARDROP is simply put, a labor of love. Love for science fiction, love for the many games that inspire us and a love for telling an engaging story with interesting characters and understanding their world.





My background - Joure

I started out as a modder doing mostly level design for a Half-Life 2 mod called ElevenEightySeven (1187). I also wrote the story and I designed all the characters, so I was used to managing a team. The mod was released in November 2010 and we came in 10th place for Mod Of The Year awards the same year.

After that I went onto Contagion where I worked as the Lead Level Designer until 2014.





I have seen both these projects get released and been there from start to finish as well. I finish what I start. This time however it's more then just a project. This time I'm doing it for my wife and my daughter. They inspire me to do better and to work harder and all my dedication goes into this game.





portfolio If you want to know more about me, please check out my





STARDROP is built using the Unreal Engine 4. EPICs amazing tools enables us to take full advantage of its fast iteration and production pipelines.





The demo was built within half a year, consisting mostly of designing, prototyping and implementing core game mechanics and play-testing. This is how the foundation of STARDROP was created and the rest of its structure was built.





This means we'll be able to continue polishing STARDROP in a fast-paced manner.







STARDROP is made by a very small team of individuals with an incredibly tight budget to the point where a lot of things we need are unavailable due to this restriction.





Some of these include a Git repository so we'll be able to share the project with each other and be bale to streamline and better coordinate our workflow.



Hardware to replacements (My computer is literally breaking down as my GPU is running on one of it's fans, scan-lines on my monitor, left mouse click sometimes doesn't register for instance -Joure)



Other costs include Marketing and PR and we would love to be able to have our own booth at one of the conventions so we can meet up with fans and gather new ones as well as mingle with other developers.





Since we want to include VR support into the final game, we are looking at some viable options. Right now, the HTC Vive is the best candidate. We're also looking to obtain a dev kit with our funds as well.





Here's a simple breakdown of how the money will be used:











WHAT DO OTHERS THINK OF STARDROP





We have a lot in store for STARDROP that we want to share with you here. These include features and what we plan to do with the game.







Steam

We'll surely find our way on to Steam one way or another especially since Steam Greenlight is an option but there is no point for us to head over there yet. We're looking into other ways before committing to one.





The game will be made available DRM Free for our backers. Steam Keys will be given out as well when they are available.







Mobi-Nav





One of the planned features, which is currently being prototyped, is the Mobi-Nav, which stands for: Mobile Navigator. It is a small droid-like object that can be remotely controlled by John from his spaceship.





The inclusion of the Mobi-Nav will add more options to gameplay features such as - executing simple tasks like opening a door or pushing a button.





Other ideas that has yet to be tested, is taking direct control of the Mobi-Nav so that it can squeeze through narrow openings or other areas where Aryn might have difficulty navigating.







Expanding the DataPad

The DataPad is very handy to keep track of your mission status and we have a lot more features planned for it.





Map System

The DataPad will not only map your environment but also, add all of your previous locations in it. On top of that, you will be able to find terminals with complete map of areas ready to download and update your DataPad. This feature is high on the list of things that needed prototyping, which we will start working on soon.





Logs

Finding and collecting logs will be part of the game. The DataPad will be vital for storing these logs so Aryn can access them at any time or whenever she needed to re-read or listen to the logs again.





And More

There are other ideas that we want to explore and possibly add more to the DataPad but we'll need to prototype them first before we release it to the community for feedback. But for now, the ones described above are the most important.















DRM-Free copy of the game + Steam code when available.

Digital Soundtrack consisting all the musical tracks from the game.

Art Book with lots of images and production artwork that is created during the making of STARDROP.

High resolution digital posters will be delivered in PDF format.

These posters are created to promote the game exclusively for our backers.

Write a personalized text log that can be found on one of the ships.

Record an audio log that can be heard during Aryn's travels.

Create a crew member of your likeness or designed by you, which will be a crucial character of the story.









The poster rewards (prints) will be sent out to our backers approx 1 week after the kickstarter funds have arrived (delivery times may vary per country).

The digital posters will be sent out immediately.

The OST and the Art Book will be sent alongside copies / keys of the final game.

The credits will be displayed both at of the game's ending credit roll as well as the Kickstarter page on the official website.

We love our community and we will make sure to keep in touch with you guys. If you want to stay up to date with what we're doing or what is happening with STARDROP then please follow us on our social media outlets.





If you backed us or not it doesn't matter we still would like to say thank you for your time to look at our campaign.





Take care.

TeamV









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