Brought to audiences by Melbourne game developers Robot Circus, Ticket to Earth introduces a new style of gameplay blending puzzle and tactics games, delivering an epic sci-fi saga of betrayal and insurrection.
Kevin Chan and Nick Hagger from the team chat to us about their inspiration for the game, Film Victoria's support through its development and what players can expect from the next instalments.
Where did the idea for the game come from and how long has this been in development?
Ticket To Earth began as an inspirational prototype, dreamed up by Kevin Chan, our Technical Director. After having a design epiphany one night, Kev had a vision for fusing the gameplay of PuzzleCraft and Dungeon Raid into a wholly new genre. The next day he built a 2D prototype - called GridRunner - from which everything grew. Nearly two years later, GridRunner has evolved into Ticket To Earth."
Was it always your intention to blend puzzle and tactics in Ticket to Earth or did this happen organically?
"Ticket To Earth was always a fusion of puzzle line-drawing (eg PuzzleCraft) and positional strategy (eg Banner Saga). The basic design framework was very clean, making it easy to build on new layers of rules. With each iteration we added more elements to the game: melee and ranged combat styles, shifting from 2D to 3D isometric, adding combat powers and justice powers."
How have you found Film Victoria's support throughout the development process?
"Film Victoria have been significantly supportive throughout the 20 month development period. Funding helped us to produce an early demo which we took to the 2016 Game Developers Conference, as well as helping us through our primary production phase in 2016. The games team at Film Victoria were also supportive in non-material ways, providing constant encouragement with regards to our vision and helping us to connect with like minds in the local development community."
What can players expect from the remaining three episodes?
"Episode One is only the tip of the iceberg. The next three instalments introduce new heroes, new enemies, new powers and new gameplay. If you thought Episode One was exciting, then you won't be disappointed by what comes next. Very shortly, we'll be posting new material from Episode 2 on our website: www.ticket-to-earth.com, or follow us on Twitter: @Robot_Circus to get the latest news."