Launch week concluded it actually went a bit better than I would have though. My thanks goes to everyone who covered the game on youtube and twitch! That actually had a major impact in terms of people learning that the game exist at all. ---Red---Tether--> shipped 400+ copies so far, about what my previous game did in its first year. I also didn’t expect ---Red---Tether--> to be quite this well received and it makes me very happy that the core gameplay and stuff like the overall sound design really seems to work for people.
Also thanks to everyone who reviewed the game! That will be a major factor in how it’ll do in the future and getting to 10 reviews was a nice milestone. If you got something out of the game and haven’t reviewed it yet then please consider doing so at some point. Specifically reaching 50 reviews would be huge, since that opens up some more visibility on Steam to the best of my knowledge.
Another round of thanks goes out to everyone who reported bugs before and after launch. These reports where invaluable for identifying and fixing some issues I had missed. I hope that I got most major quirks ironed out now, but please bear with me and report if anything new pops up. (There is a feedback option in the pause menu if you need to contact me or just want to join the community.)
Future Plans: ---Red---Tether-->
Half way through development I started to seriously worry that the game would be perceived as too small and the later part of the dev cycle was spent counteracting that. I still had to cut stuff for time at the end, so at some point there will be at least one content patch that includes some of these unexplored ideas. More specifically these three RTP members might find their way into your unit:
Internally they are titled the hazard squadron, since all three come with signature tech that can inflict elemental status effects, both on themselves and other ships. All three also come with additional effects somewhat related to their elemental alignment. You’ll have to progress to the mid-to late game in order to unlock them.
There are tons of other plans, but ideas are cheap so I’ll keep this short. If at all, these things will come as free content patches, way in the future.
- Black boxes are nice but IMO the game could provide more context for what is going on. Working towards this I’ve already prototyped a comms system that lets ships captains talk during combat. Extended item descriptions, shown in the item databases, are also on the table.
- More hazards like acid and radiation are planned, allowing for new interactions. These could also serve to better differentiate later zones.
- Some challenges the game throws at you aren’t explored by bosses that much, the game is lacking a small-crafts-only boss for example.
- This game has harpoons and lines, but not the obvious thing to use them on: cybernetic hyperspace-capable fish-things that are also upgrades you get on catch. 0/10.
- Being able to unload weapons after you ripped them from enemies might be an interesting concept for a ship.
- The game doesn't have enough saw blades.
Also (if you don’t mind spoilers and hasty, messy notes) you can even have a look at the games public dev board, that has most of my ongoing plans for the game listed.
Future Plans: Sleeper Games
Committing to a full release of ---Red---Tether--> was meant as trial run for making smaller, faster, better games, to stand a better chance on Steam through getting launch visibility more often. I think that ultimately worked out and I want to keep this momentum up in 2022. And the way ahead is already planned out.
In fact, ---Red---Tether--> was intended as the first part of trilogy of games from the get go. Lets call it the Hyperspace Trilogy for now. These games will all feature top-down 2d space gameplay in a similar art style to tie them together. But they will explore vastly different mechanics and genres. And the second game is already planned out. In fact it even has a prototype, made before ---Red---Tether--> in 2021 as part of another game jam:
Swirl W@tch will be a ship-to-ship stealth action game that takes place deep inside the pressure hell of resource-rich gas giants. It’ll enter pre-production next week and will hopefully get released in 2022 still. The current prototype is pretty action oriented and has a defense based objective, but I want to move towards more stealth-focused core gameplay and infiltration missions. The final game might play quite differently than what is shown here. But again, ideas are cheap, so I’ll get back to you with a full steam page once I have something tangible to present. Till then, I hope you enjoy exploring everything the first part of the Hyperspace Trilogy has to offer.
Cheers and stay tethered!
Stefan – Sleeper Games