The History of Interstellar Marines and ZPS

[Phyrefli]

We've had quite a few questions about what's happened to the game over the past years, and why it's taken so long to get where it is today, so I'd like to just take the time to clarify where we've been :)

ZPS was formed in 2004, and by 2006 we had put together a trailer showing the Interstellar Marines game concept. That trailer allowed us to secure an Unreal evaluation licence along with funding to increase the size of the team to 20 people. We were on the way!

By the end of 2007 we'd finished the demo for publishers, and at GDC in 2008 we met with several of them to work on sealing a deal on creating and publishing the game. Unfortunately not long after this the financial crisis hit resulting in the publishers pulling out, and the funding not being provided to complete the game.

As we could not afford the $1mil Unreal licence not only did we have to lay off most of our staff, but we also had to ditch pretty much everything we'd worked on already. Needless to say this was not a good time.

In 2009 we switched over to a new engine, Unity, and effectively restarted development of Interstellar Marines. The concept hasn't changed, the game we're making hasn't changed, we've simply had to get back on our feet after all the knock backs. From that point on we've relied massively on the support of our frankly incredible community who have supported us and backed us way, way more than we ever thought possible. It really is because of them that we're here today.

Last year we did a Kickstarter campaign, which unfortunately did not succeed, but all that has done is slowed down development (as we could not hire extra people) but has not stopped it.

And this is where we are today. Live on Steam Early Access, sharing where we've got to, and where we're going, with you guys. And thanking every single one of you who's chosen to support us.

Below is a link to the Kickstarter video which we did. It starts from 3:48 as it also explains what I've just written above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7egZZ7nW24&feature=youtu.be&t=3m48s

For The Love Of The Game.