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Well, it’s official… Operation Hardcore is on Steam! Still a long way to go before I can happily say “it’s done” (if ever?), but still, a huge step towards this ludicrous idea of trying to make video games for a living (and music, of course) 🙂

So, a lot has happened since I first announced the game a few months back.

Firstly, I’ve partnered with a old internet acquaintance, Ricardo Chirino, to assist with art. He’s also stepped up on the marketing and promotion front in a big way.

Little known fact: he and I worked together on a submission for a 72 hour game dev competition over a decade ago. In fact, the game did fairly well (2nd overall, 1st in sound, as I recall).

Secondly, our Indiegogo campaign came and went. Though we were able to raise a few hundred dollars, it  was nowhere near enough to support the cost of developing for Wii U. This led to a decision to instead focus on PC release first.

Ricardo and I then spent the next couple months polishing up a demo, which was released a few weeks ago. In parallel we worked on promoting the game on Steam Greenlight, including putting together this gameplay video:

Well, it looks like everything is coming together! The game was Greenlit on Steam yesterday and we’ve had quite a few downloads of the demo, as well as some feedback/reviews rolling in (make no mistake, the game is hard!)

What’s next for us? Well, another few months of development, for sure. While we already have a full alpha build of the game there’s still a long list of bugs, additional features, and a whole lot of polish that needs to be added.

To those who have supported us over the past few months: I just wanted to say thanks! We’re in it for the long haul, and we promise you it’ll be worth the wait 🙂

Most of you know that music is a big part of my life, and last year was a big year for me: I released 2 EPs, an album and several remixes; 17 or 18 tracks in total, I think!

What you might not know about, however, is my other passion: video games. (well, there have probably been some indications that I play a lot of video games, but I also have an interest and history in video game design and development.)

For 2015 I’ve resolved to really push this envelope, much like I pushed the music envelope in 2014.

On that note, I’d like to officially announce my first independent game title: Operation Hardcore. (well, the original name was “Badass: Operation Hardcore”, but sadly the folks over at Nintendo are likely to veto this so I thought it best to preemptively change the name)

Operation Hardcore is a 2D action game with the heart and soul of a retro game, but the mind and body of a current-gen game, including modern sound design and music (by me), analog controls, HD output, etc. I’m targeting a Wii U release later this year and, depending on how that goes, may be exploring additional platforms in 2016.

While the project is entirely self-funded, I am hoping for some help from friends and family. I’m running an Indiegogo (crowd-funding) campaign for the next month and a half. Anything you can contribute is greatly appreciated, and I’m offering several perks in exchange. Here’s a link to the campaign.

Feel free to reach out with any questions, words of encouragement, words of discouragement (you’re crazy/what the hell are you doing!), or whatever else you can think of 🙂 If you’re a fan of this genre and want to help in other ways, I will be looking for play-testers throughout the course of development (you don’t need a Wii U for this, just a PC and an Xbox 360 controller)

Thanks for your support,
Adam