This year hasn’t been great for many businesses but when it comes to crowd-funding the public is still interested in new projects. Finger tracking controller etee and omnidirectional treadmill Kat Walk C have both had successful campaigns and today another has arrived. Pumpkin Head Studio has just launched a Kickstarter for its virtual reality (VR) tower defence videogame Automata Break.
A three-person indie studio based in Mexico City, Pumpkin Head Studio has been working on Automata Break for the last three years so the project is almost complete. It’s an asymmetrical multiplayer with one player in VR whilst the other non-VR player is on a monitor/smartphone either locally or online – there’s also a single-player mode.
Gameplay revolves around preventing the robotic Automata from escaping, by placing towers or facing them head-on. So one player takes on Automata Break from an overhead tower defence angle whilst the other gets stuck in from a first-person shooter (FPS) perspective.
Players placing towers will be various emplacements to select from, all of which are upgradeable, whilst the FPS player gets a bunch of upgradeable weaponry to choose from. To further modify the gameplay mechanics mutators will be selectable, turning on options such as exploding enemies which cause a chain reaction or defeated foes then split into mini versions of themselves.
Like other developers who have almost fully realised their project before starting a crowd-funding campaign, Pumpkin Head Studio will be using the funds to finish and polish Automata Break. With funding tiers starting from $19 USD, backers will be able to play 10 early access levels with a further 10 unlocking when the title launches. Some tiers will even allow backers to design a weapon, tower, even a boss battle. Want to try before you buy? Then a free demo is also available.
Automata Break will be a PC VR title supporting Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. The official launch is expected to take place in Q4 2020 via Steam. As the campaign progresses, VRFocus will keep you updated.
