We use a custom C++ engine built just for the game. At the time we started, Unity had not yet released it’s 2d toolkit, and we felt that since the game was not particularly technically demanding, we could get by with a dune buggy instead of a Range Rover. We have a few exporters and other custom tool we’ve written, but nothing groundbreaking.

Kickstarter Success

We announced the game before coming to Kickstarter, and used the intervening time to collect email addresses and build a mailing list of our very earliest fans. The campaign prep was about 5-7 weeks prior to the launch, and took a full time effort from both Tyler and myself. We worked hard to refine our pitch, to ensure that it was easy to articulate, and quick to communicate our vision for the game. We wanted to fund quickly, since oftentimes that can generate buzz. So, we emailed everyone on our list, every press contact we could find, our family & friends, ex-coworkers – no stone was left unturned!

The actual budget for the game was higher than 300k – we each lived on our own financial runways (savings, rrsps, etc) during development, and we took a 75k loan early in the project to help out.