Hello everyone!
What a week this has been: a huuuuuge thanks to you all! We’re nearly 60% funded - and THAT is a great way to go into the weekend.
In case you missed it, Rich did a little stream yesterday from the back of an LA cab - it is full of big gushy thank yous to everyone! The video isn’t top quality, but the heartfelt thanks definitely are. (check it out on twitch.tv/semaeopus)
He’s out there as he’s a speaker at IndieCade today! He’s talking about modding, digital activism, and why as a game developer, you probably have less to say about a subject than your audience does.
So without further ado: let’s talk about what makes Off Grid so unique!
Off Grid is first and foremost a fun yet challenging hacking game that opens a dialogue about the real world issues of data privacy, information security, and the mass surveillance state that surrounds us all. It has a compelling narrative and a sweet father-daughter relationship at its core.
It’s played with a controller, and we promise, no previous hacking knowledge is required. ;)
But if you wish to take it further, there’s so much more to it!
Replay & Community Input
We want Off Grid to continue on as a piece of work that the community can shape along with us in order to make it everything it can be. It is an open stealth game with multiple solutions to levels and a complex AI, creating missions that are fun to play through many times over.
PLUS, the game is extensively moddable and the speed and ease with which players and modders can turn around a level means that interesting content and stories should be produced at a speed and scale that will outstrip anything we could dream of as an indie development team!
This is something we want to expand on here...
The 'South Park' of Hacking Games
Off Grid has dark humour at its centre, and the state of this crazy googling, Orwellian hot mess of a world we live in is ripe for modders to exploit humorous interpretations. Off Grid is much like South Park in that important themes are wrapped up in tongue-in-cheek humour. Like South Park’s speedy turnaround of episodes to approach topical issues, Off Grid’s modding tools make it possible to produce a new level in a matter of days in order to ape news and current events.
The incredible importance and relevance of the issues around hacking and data privacy in everyday life mean that there is a mine of inspiration available for topical mods to be created and for streamers to play and comment on.
In this video we took a real life vulnerability and made it as a mod in the game to prove the tools could used to tell stories of real life hacks. In this instance, we took Scott Helme's talk from Steelcon16 about the vulnerabilities of the Nissan Leaf, and made a hackable car that carried the same weakness: a publicly displayed VIN was used to access the app that controls the car's aircon, battery, locks, and could get the car's location data.
The possibilities are endless! We look forward to the game being released and seeing the first official mods come back.
If this sounds up your street and you have yet you back Off Grid, please consider doing so now! We’d love to have you as a backer.
To all of you that have backed and/or shared this campaign so far: we can’t say thank you enough - it’s been an absolutely incredible few days!
THANK YOU!
The Off Grid Team
P.S. Don’t forget: please share this, retweet us, post the link wherever you hang out online, and tell your friends! THANK YOU!