Space Exploration Comes to Gameboy as"Luft Gears" Kickstarter Campaign Successfully Culminates.
The official Kickstarter.com campaign for “Luft Gears” has successfully come to completion and it’s one of the few homebrew games that is actually accepting late pledges after the fact. So in case you decide that you want a copy you actually have a chance to get one if you weren’t aware of the kickstarter campaign earlier or were unable to contribute earlier. Just over 200 people have backed the game campaign which has resulted in the development and production of a Gameboy DMG game available to play on a range of consoles from Gameboy DMG’s, to Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Color, The Analogue Pocket and the latest machine the ModRetro Chromatic.
This game is noteworthy for bringing a Starflight like experience to the Gameboy. For those who are unfamiliar with Starflight or Star Control, these games are on PC / DOS, Sega Mega Drive and Panasonic 3DO and are a very interesting blend of exploration and RPG. Extensive maps of the star system’s and galaxies that are set to be explored must be stored somewhere in the game’s memory, which would be quite limited in the total 1024Kb that is available for standard Gameboy DMG games. In fact somewhere in the game diary on Kickstarter I believe the creator of the game said that he had to cut some levels to make room for some other feature like or something, however don’t quote me on that. The premise of the game is that you are a free-lance space pilot who get’s tasked with finding a missing signal that’s lost in deep space as keeping your space ship running and in space-worthy order. This includes doing mundane duties that a pilot who is in charge of maintaining his own ship has to do: manage resources, manage finances, repair damaged equipment and monitor critical equipment. Failing to ensure the condition of your ship and your financial position will result in being doomed to travel listlessly in space forever.
"As captain, you’re completely alone on the ship. There’s no crew to rely on—just you, the cold machinery, and the infinite expanse of space. Every system on the ship is in your hands, and survival depends on your ability to keep it all running. You’ll need to maintain the functionality of the engine, radar, armory, and ship cannon, constantly juggling repairs and resource management to ensure you can keep pushing deeper into uncharted territory."
-Luft Gear's Kickstarter webpage
As a Luft Gears pilot it isn’t your first time in the cockpit, as the name hints at the pilot use to control aircraft during the second world war. In this world The Republic won the war and the main character was a pilot with the Military Squad “Luft Gears” who never imagined he would be called to the skies, or even beyond them, again. Stepping into a starship with all the experience of being a fighter pilot aiding him, the player must fulfil the mission given to him by officials from The Republic who want him to investigate a radio signal being sent out by a pre-war spacecraft deep in the far reaches of space. The journey will take the experienced Air Force Pilot out of retirement due to his ability to handle the unknown in the extreme circumstances of war. The people in charge of the mission therefore came to the player’s character due to his involvement in his squad “Luft Gears” during the war, which is where the name for the game comes from.
A major part of the game is exploration, salvaging, crafting and repairing. You can mine for rare minerals that allow you to craft gears and fix machinery as well as find special upgradeable parts for your ship. The ships weapons, engines, armor and other aspects can all be upgraded. Much like in Starflight it seems like the danger and feeling of dread dramatically increases the deeper you explore into space. Things start to become frighteningly unknown as you at any moment an exceedingly dangerous alien race could randomly intercept your ship. So you need careful ship management skills to determine when the risk vs reward ratio is in your favor to be able to start to explore the deeper reaches of the galaxies. Engine condition is important to keep the ship moving between star systems as to not be an exposed target, radar is needed to scan planet’s for resources and hostile influences.
Relevant Links
- Youtube trailer video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzcc4s21g6M] The YouTube video of this game promoting game launch.
- Official Kickstarter web-page for this game [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/y2031/luft-gears-new-gameboy-game] Now officially ended but late pledges still available and can get you the game.
