Indie game developer strikes deal for global distribution

PALMER — David Board may be obsessed with life on other planets, but gamers globally may soon find plenty to obsess over in the virtual world of his creation, “Lifeless Planet.”

Board is a partner in Palmer-based State 2 Studios, which has announced a deal with London-based adventure game publisher Lace Mamba Global for worldwide distribution of the independently developed action-adventure video game.

“This is kind of a big deal for us,” Board said. “Indie games and indie game developers like myself can easily distribute your game online, but with limited resources, getting the word out or retail packaging to sit on store shelves (can be difficult) and we don’t have the distribution channels.”

That’s where Lace Mamba Global comes in, he said. Board recently returned from a trip to meet with the distributor and came away with an agreement to produce “Lifeless Planet” for both PC and Mac computer platforms. The company also has strong distribution ties throughout much of Europe and Australia, he said.

“They’re going to facilitate not only distributing it in England, but in countries all around Europe, a little bit in Asia, and they’re really big in Australia,” Board said. “That means translating the text into about 10 different languages.”

“Lifeless Planet” is a third-person cinematic sci-fi action adventure game that forces the player to solve puzzles and follow clues to advance the plot, Board said. It’s set 20 light years from Earth where the protagonist, an unnamed astronaut, finds himself stranded on a lifeless planet, only to discover the Russians had been there before him.

“Without giving away the story, the Russians in the story aren’t exactly the antagonists,” Board said. “Things have kind of gone awry and the Russian laboratory is abandoned and devoid of life. The theme is that during the space race, American’s were like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re planting a flag on the moon.’ Meanwhile, these guys were on a distant planet.”

With its deal in place, Stage 2 Studios is ramping up the testing phases of the game, which is being done by people who contributed to its independent development, Board said. Through a website called Kickstarter.com, independent game developers pitch their ideas and, if game enthusiasts believe in them, they contribute. For “Lifeless Planet,” the response was so good that Stage 2 generated about $17,000 from Kickstarter, considerably more than the original goal of $8,500.

Those who contributed $25 or more get to be part of the game’s beta testing, which means they get to play the game before it’s finished, giving input on gameplay, Board said. This allows him to make adjustments and modifications to the final product, which he hopes will be out by the end of the year.

“I’ve gotten some really, really good feedback (from testers),” he said. “They’re loving the graphics and the gameplay is difficult, so I’m probably going to dial back the difficulty a little bit.”

Distributing the game on PC and Mac formats is hopefully just the beginning, Board said. Plans are also in the works to modify the game to be played on tablets like the iPad and possibly be picked up for release over the Microsoft-owned Xbox console system.

Xbox “would be huge,” Board said. “The PC market is not dead, and consoles get a lot of press, but for indie and adventure games, PC is still a strong platform. I’m expecting a strong market for PC and Mac, particularly in Europe.”

For more information, visit lifelessplanet.com.

Contact reporter Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

“Exploring the inhospitable world and searching for answers leads to an even more puzzling discovery: an abandoned Cold-War era Soviet laboratory. Is this really an extra-solar planet, or was this mission just a hoax? Before the astronaut protagonist can uncover the truth, he finds himself struggling to survive in the face of a dark and deadly presence. When a mysterious young woman appears and saves his life, he must put aside his skepticism and follow her ... or die!”

That’s how game developer David Board describes his new independent sci-fi action-adventure game, “Lifeless Planet.”

Learn more at lifelsessplanet.com.