The Kickstarter phenomenon has allowed those who would not have been able to follow the traditional routes of funding to realise their visions within many art forms, but this is especially true in video games. The way the project campaign is run and managed can often be the determining factor in achieving success or returning empty-handed to the drawing board. It is the final few days that are the most tense, and no one knows this better than the team behind the unique flying adventure title InnerSpace as it entered its last 48 hours with pledges covering 95% of its funding. Then, four hours later, the game managed to skip past its 100% target of $25,000 (including a pledge from myself). We caught up with Tyler Tomaseski, Director and Programmer at PolyKnight Games, to discuss the campaign, his hopes for the game now that it has been funded, and who shot JR.
Andrew Rainnie, Warp Zoned UK Correspondent: Hi Tyler! First of all, thank you very much for agreeing to take time out of your hectic schedule to answer some questions. Can you tell us more about the team at PolyKnight Games, how you came to band together, and your background with video games?
Tyler Tomaseski: We’ve all been pretty vocal about wanting to make games together, so we just sort of pieced us all together. Nick Adams and myself had tried a start-up together before, but were flooded with other responsibilities at the time. Later on our schedules were looking perfect to give it a good go, so we reassembled with more and new friends this time. The second time around it was Steve Zapata and myself pulling everyone together though. At the time of our launch we each had our own projects, so it was a bit of a peace summit to get each of us to drop our current projects and work on a new third one.
WZ – Andrew: InnerSpace is described as an exploratory flight game within an inverted planet where you can discover its gods and secrets. What lead to the idea of the inverted landscape?
Tomaseski: It started with the anime series Gurren Lagann, quickly evolving into the inverted planet, and then slowly evolving into a water-based planet with the aesthetic we have today. That’s the shortest I can put it. From there we had our setting and we designed our game based on it. So all the mechanics of our game are a product of the setting. It’s a bit backwards design-wise, but it makes for a really cool exploration game.
WZ – Andrew: What led you to launch a Kickstarter campaign for the game? And how did you go about setting the budget and rewards?
Tomaseski: Budget is based on software costs, server costs, contract money for those who we want to work with but need the money, and what I like to call “aweshits.” “Aweshits” funds are set aside for that something that makes you say “aw… shit.” We wanted to make sure we set our finances to ensure we complete. The founding members of PolyKnight Games have been working on [InnerSpace] without pay throughout its development.
Regarding rewards, we knew what we wanted to charge for the game in the long run, so we just gave the backers as much value as we could. Nothing should cost more on our Kickstarter than it would in the long run, only less. We also wanted to include a lot of “interactive” tiers where we actually make things in-game for those who give accordingly. We just made time-investment estimates and made prices we thought were fair.
WZ – Andrew: The game itself is gorgeous, with a pastel art style that is similar to what we have glimpsed in Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky. How did you develop the art style and what was the inspiration behind it?
Tomaseski: Expressionism. We have a heavy emphasis on proximity-based detail and playing with the way objects are shaded to more vividly color our world. We get compared to No Man’s Sky a lot, but I think the resemblances end at being colorful. That said, it’s a huge compliment; No Man’s Sky is gorgeous.
Our shadows don’t take the color/tone of “dark,” instead they move towards colors or more saturated tones. Objects in the distance lose detail and become solid colors, similar to many paintings we use as reference. We spent a lot of time looking at and creating 2D art we wanted to recreate in a 3D space. We invested a large sum of time on our shaders to achieve this.
WZ – Andrew: Could you give any potential Kickstarter campaigners out there some advice? And is there anything you would do differently regarding your campaign?
Tomaseski: Make a demo and market out to YouTubers. This is a market we didn’t take advantage of and it was likely our largest misstep. Additionally, build relations with your community. Don’t be a big shot, be approachable and fit in. Stay humble.
WZ – Andrew: The game is designed for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Did you ever at any point consider gaining a license for consoles?
Tomaseski: We’ve been approached by Microsoft and additionally would love to release it on the Vita (two of us have one). It’s an afterthought right now, but we want to focus on the markets at hand and then we’ll work our way over. We have promises to keep before we worry about bigger things.
WZ – Andrew: What games do you like to play? What would you say are the games that have defined you as a gamer, and as a designer?
Tomaseski: I pride myself in playing lots of game, including genres I originally wouldn’t enjoy. We pull inspiration from a multitude of places. Personally, I’m especially compelled by Shadow of the Colossus and Dark Souls. Additionally, I’m a massive fan of unique gameplay/feedback loops found in arcade games like Dig-Dug and the lovable/blissful worlds Rare crafted. Aside from Nick maybe listing Demon’s Souls, we all have very different taste in games, but have strongly aligned design methodologies that vary in their own ways. We come together really well in that regard.
WZ – Andrew: PolyKnight is based in Dallas. So, who shot JR?
Tomaseski: I haven’t watched it, sadly. I personally have no soap opera fans in my family. I was too busy at the time freaking out about the House M.D. finale.
[Ed. Note: Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby) shot JR in a 1980 episode of Dallas]
WZ – Andrew: Your title obviously refers to the inverted world, but were you worried that people might think it’s a game based on the 1980s film that features Dennis Quaid being injected into Martin Short’s bum in a tiny wee robot? And why has there never been a game about that?!
Tomaseski: In most games you control a character’s actions. Sometimes the manipulations are minute and only modifications of a few choices, but sometimes you have greater control. So, in a certain light, all games are Dennis Quaid with a shrunken Martin Short manipulating the brain via a robot. That or all games are Ratatouille.
WZ – Andrew: Assuming the crowdfunding is successful, what lies ahead for the team once the game is launched? Could you share any future game ideas? And will you tread the Kickstarter path once more?
Tomaseski: Little sleep, suffering grades for the few still in their senior year, a mountain of Monster cans, and plenty of eyestrain. We’ve made a promise, and we’re going to kill ourselves and push ourselves to our limits keeping it. We’ll be disregarding self-preservation entirely. I can’t make promises on what’s next, but we’ll likely remain small regardless of our success. We’ll keep it experimental and it’ll always be something odd and interesting. Reality and physics-warping, unique storytelling, and unique aesthetics are things we thrive for, so expect all three from everything we make.
WZ – Andrew: Once again, thank you to Tyler and the PolyKnight team for taking the time to chat to us, and congratulations on a well-won campaign, which still has seven hours left to go if you’re interested in pledging.
