Operation Hardcore

Operation Hardcore transitions to full release

For the past 2+ years I’ve locked myself in the studio pretty much every weeknight/end, making pixels move, making crazy electronic sounds. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “How is this different than any other 2 year stretch of your life?” Well, I suppose it’s not THAT different, except this time I actually have something to show for it: my first independent game is now in full release on Steam! Full release as in “it’s
finished”!

As with pretty much every project ever, it’s taken way longer than I expected, and is nowhere near as grandiose as I had initially schemed, but, it’s done! Another notch on my belt as an independent musician and game developer.

With any luck (and probably a lot of hard work), this is just the start of the next chapter of my life and career. I’ve already lined up a publishing deal for my next game, and have been chatting with some insanely talented folks about partnering on some things in the future.

Thanks to all those who supported me through this project, helped spread the word, or were just there for me when I needed to let off some steam.

Tomorrow night, I celebrate by playing some drum & bass at The CoHo! 😉

Operation Hardcore now in Early Access

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) 🙂

Operation Hardcore news

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 🙂

Operation Hardcore: a game by Adam McLellan

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