Currently Funding: Satellite Reign

Currently Funding provides a look at games that are in the process of running a crowdfunding initiative.

Satellite Reign by 5 Lives Studios

Funding Target: £350,000 
28th June - 29th July 2013 on Kickstarter
PC, Mac and Linux

Satellite Reign is a real time strategy game set in a simulated cyberpunk city. You direct the actions of four agents who clash against corporate police and corrupt governments, choosing your path to the top in this sandbox city. The game aims to support a variety of gameplay styles, from all-out assault to espionage and infiltration.

The game is a spiritual successor to Syndicate, an isometric strategy game from EA and Bullfrog which came out in '93 (evoking memories of me rushing home from school, eager to play). A sequel followed several years later under the name Syndicate Wars. Whilst EA's latest take on the Syndicate series abandoned the isometric tactical gameplay in favour of a squad-based first person shooter, 5 Lives Studios is staying faithful to the strategic nature of the original games. Mike Diskett, project lead on Syndicate Wars, is one of the five members at 5 Lives Studios.

One interesting detail the Kickstarter campaign focuses on is the use of emergent gameplay, with the flow of electrical power, finances and information being part of the city simulation. The suggestion here is that this will allow the player to manipulate the world in a variety of ways. The game intends to be quite open in its mission structure, with the player being free to complete objectives using whatever means they see fit within the simulation.

The Pledges

If you're looking to support the development of the game, a £16 pledge gets you a digital copy of the game when it's finished (£13 if you can nab a migrating early bird), with options for boxed copies starting at £55. The usual run of pledge options are covered across the various tiers, from digital soundtracks, t-shirts, art books and signed copies all the way to being immortalised in the game as an NPC.

My Opinion

It's worth noting that whilst the games concept is promising and the art direction is solid, what remains to be seen is the gameplay itself. A lot of really cool extra features have been resigned to stretch goal material (multiplayer, larger scale destructable environments and so on), but what is promised here as a base game concept seems quite a desirable package to me. If the project doesn't reach well over the funding goal by the end of the campaign, I'd expect to see a fairly basic game world, but hopefully one with the potential for expansion packs or future installments to tackle some of those elusive stretch goals.

Personally, I've jumped in at the Transistor / Resistor pledge level as I like what I see here (plus, the t-shirt design looks pretty cool, even if it liable to change between now and shipping). The beta access at this level is a nice bonus, if I get the chance I'll likely jump in when it becomes available. With a team of just five trying to build an elaborate city simulation, I'm sure 5 Lives Studios needs all the beta testers they can get.

Further Reading

For more information on the project and pledges visit http://support.satellitereign.com/

The game is listed on Steam Greenlight and GoG, so if you like what you see, voting on those sites will help to ensure its future presence on those services.