Despite having the unfortunate name of “Black” space, Blackspace is getting a lot of publicity. In this article we will go over this third-person RTS. We will also discuss the fact that this game is getting big media attention without getting an indie, grassroots support base. Why is this? Come find out with us.
As a game, we have seen it before. A third-person RTS game in the style of StarForge. This particular game decides to sell itself on being in space. As you can see from the above video, it looks quite stylish. However it seems to simply borrow gameplay elements from other genres. Will this be enough to set it apart? Well, they are going to need some very weird planets, and we just are not seeing this with the game yet. But we want to. This is also very early in development.
Blackspace and an object lesson for developers
Due to the support of Nvidia, they will have Oculus support. As a result they have had many of the larger, industry-managed magazines supporting them. You know, the ones such as RPG and Indie Game Mag that pay lip service to the truth, but do not need it. The upside to such a thing is that they get massive promotion. The downside is that they have no indie credit. Those who pride themselves on not listening to paid reviews and supporting the smaller guys will ignore them. This means that they are far away from their funding goal.
On the other hand, going with the large, paid press lets you call in special favors. Celebrities and big names can rescue the game in its final moments. This is an object lesson for developers. There are upsides and downsides to being favored by the establishment. It is also a fact that the media is in Oculus fever right now. We recall something like the Oculus failing hard ourselves. What was that called again? Oh right, the breathtaking, cutting-edge Virtual Boy. Yuck. Good to see that we have learned nothing from history.
Some of the people who may read this will be a bit offended. They shouldn’t be, because you only learn from mistakes, not praise. Praise is all most of the people in this area are getting right now. So it is no wonder the industry as a whole has declined.
The Blackspace Kickstarter
Right now you can check out the Blackspace Kickstarter for yourself. As usual there are various bonuses for this. We hope that this article is a wake-up call to the developers to really do something unique with their game. Because we want to see them stand out.
