X-Wing designer launches Kickstarter for Starfighter Inc

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the RSA Lazygamer. It’s ongoing mission: To explore the vast depths of space, to boldly go where no man has gone before and to shove a tachyon laser up the exhaust of that other gaming website cruiser. And that’s a skill we honed back in the day. Games such as Starlancer, Wing Commander and the grand sugar daddy of them all, X-Wing, all helped sharpen our ability to nail a moving target. And with space once again proving to be popular, it’s time to start dogfighting again.

Led by X-Wing veteran David Weissman, Starfighter Inc is a new Kickstarter game that describes itself “World of Tanks meets Counter Strike in space.” The game is looking for $250 000 in funding right now, having already secured over $66 200 with a month left on the crowdfunding clock. There’s certainly a ton of veterans working in the 15-man team behind the game, which includes the likes of Jack “Far Cry” Mamais and Nate “Halo 4” Walpole. “This is the next great space shooter,” Weissman said in the Kickstarter video.

This is the next X-Wing. We want to capture that intense, immersive feeling of being in the cockpit.

“Our hope is that by bringing the game to the Kickstarter community, we can make this dream a reality,” the team wrote on the campaign page.

We spent a lot of time at GDC last year shopping the game around, so we had time to chat in between meetings. Even though we were tired from hours of pitching, one interesting realization emerged from our conversations. The most successful projects we’ve all worked on, both in terms of commercial success and in terms of how we felt about them, were projects that tapped directly into the community.

Right now, the current $250 000 goal will allow the team to create a game that has 16-player online matches, six different ship types, full Newtonian physics, discrete damage models and “pure, unadulterated tactical simulation combat”. The big hook here however, won’t just be in the dogfighting. Players will be able to set up their own corporations in the far-off year of 2230, and control their business entity in the mother of all hostile takeovers.

“Mankind’s final frontier has been destabilized by corporate interests and powerful private military companies,” the plot reads. “The powers that be look to elite mercenary pilots to secure their holdings; violently if need be.”

Ship customisation also plays a key role, and of course there are stretch goals in place. A $700 000 goal will double the number of active players in a match to 32, while the final, hoo-boy goal of $17 million offers pretty much…everything. $5 is the minimum to back the game, while $15 gets you an early-bird download version when it ships next year August.

SPA-ACE!

Last Updated: May 7, 2015