Havoc Studios
January 2021 Newsletter
Welcome to 2021!
Happy New Year! With 2020 behind us, we at Havoc Studios are boldly going forward, ready to take major strides with Havoc Fox in 2021. We have big plans for development, production, and promotion, and we cannot wait to fill you in on everything! This month, we will share with you our biggest aspiration for 2021, which is...
Havoc Fox Kickstarter Campaign
At long last, Havoc Fox is in a state of development where we can comfortably and confidently hold a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign!
(Artwork by @veldoodles)
Sometime around this upcoming summer, we are planning on holding a Kickstarter campaign for Havoc Fox. The main purpose of the campaign is to gain additional funding to help us develop Havoc Fox quicker through hiring additional help for the game’s soundtrack, stages, art/animations, and voice actors. While it is entirely feasible to finish development without additional funding (and we guarantee that Havoc Fox will still release in the event of a failed Kickstarter), the campaign will allow us to finish development of the game quicker, more efficiently, and with higher quality in various aspects of the game.
Another perk of hosting this campaign is allowing you, the community, an opportunity to secure a copy of Havoc Fox, additional digital material, and a chance to become directly involved with the game! Potential rewards include having your name in the credits, a digital copy of the game upon release, digital soundtrack and artbook downloads, and the chance to have your likeness (or a character of your own creation) in the game! The rewards would depend on the amount you pledge (with the name credit being cheaper and the game inclusion being more expensive) and likely will not include any physical merchandise.
Additionally, with the upcoming campaign, we would like to have another demo to coincide with the Kickstarter! This demo would showcase everything we’ve added since the SAGE 2020 demo, offering a look at the new movesets and the game’s main adventure mode. This would help us to convey with you our vision for the final product so you know exactly what you’re pledging.
We will not disclose our goal, pledge amounts, or campaign start date until we have finalized the amounts and are ready to go. Stay tuned to our newsletters, website, social media, and Discord server for updates on the Kickstarter campaign!
Current Development Update
This month, we delved deeper into Retro Ravine.
Some features from the previous iteration of Retro Ravine are still in use but have been updated to be more aesthetically pleasing and functional. The spinning platforms have more visual props and effects in place to add life to the scene. Kiiro’s assist vehicles (such as his saw blade platform) are larger and have been placed in an entirely new area, offering a different challenge from before (which we have learned was very difficult to traverse). The new challenge should be much more reasonable.
In the new Retro Ravine, players will face-off against a new midboss: Gear Winger. In this two-phase fight, Grey sits on the sidelines as Foss takes flight in a shoot-em-up battle against the large, mechanical bird. After fighting against a slew of smaller enemies (in a similar vein to Macaron Magic), Gear Winger shows up to attack with projectile attacks and occasionally through launching his own body parts at the player. After being taken down by Foss, Gear Winger lands on the ground to face Grey in a more traditional fight.
After Gear Winger has been defeated, he may appear again. We’ll keep quiet on this for now, but be sure to follow along with us on Twitter and Discord for future updates as we finish development on this stage!
Community Spotlight - SlyBalto
In each edition of the Havoc Studios monthly newsletter, we will highlight the works and/or relations of a member from the community or studio. We are grateful for everyone within the community and would like to recognize those of you who help bring life to the community. Our August community spotlight features SlyBalto, and his game “Brooke vs. World Doom!”
How did you first come across Havoc Fox?
“The summer of 2017 was an “indie boom” for me; I got into a ton of different indie video games. I discovered the game Freedom Planet that summer and got really into it the following months. While looking at some fanart of FP on Twitter, I discovered an artist named Kenji. Got hooked on his blend of anime and his own flavor in his works and followed him. One day, he posted a sketch of a character I didn’t recognize. He put a caption for it, something like Here’s Grey from Havoc Fox atop the artwork of a silver fox-looking character.
“After checking it out I decided to keep my eye on Havoc Fox; I could feel the potential just oozing out of it. Even when it wasn't developed nearly as much as it is now, there was this unexplainable pull towards the project and I hopped aboard quickly.”
Have you learned anything from Havoc Fox’s development that helped you with your own game?
“Havoc Fox showed me first hand how a game grows over time; Big name voice actors are now attached to the project, the community is one giant party with talented people everywhere you turn. It also showed the power of a good community, and how much a game really can grow because of the people supporting it. The server’s a platform that celebrates indie developers and artists, and it's not a party you wanna miss out on.”
How long have you been involved with game design?
“For as long as I can remember, I always saw making games as a career I wanted to dive into. I first started working on game projects as early as around summer of 2017, worked on a tiny Unity project that never got finished called Super Ball Hero, but before then I did have a few concepts for games that are now totally scrapped. My current game project Brooke Vs. World Doom is my first ever “people can actually buy this thing when it’s finished” type of project I’ve ever worked on.”
What can you tell me about your own game, Brooke vs. World Doom? Goals, synopsis, struggles, etc.
“I have always loved making people laugh. Brooke Vs. World Doom has been my big chance to mix hysterical antics with jaw-dropping 2.5D platforming action. I wanted to make something that gets people excited and puts them in a good mood too. I’d like to get at least 7 levels packed to the brim with fun mechanics plus a final boss fight in the game.
“I started working on the game in fall of 2017. It was only supposed to be a game pitch for a class project, but I liked working on it so much I just kept going and never stopped. I wanted to create Brooke, but realized I didn't know how to do anything at all, so I got busy. After 3 years of watching as many tutorials as I can stomach and developing my skills whenever I could, I learned how to make a huge variety of assets, from 3D models and animations to 2D textures and artwork, completely out of necessity. I decided I wasn’t going to be an ideas guy, I wanted to be the type of guy that jumps head first and gets stuff done, even if I’m not the best at what I do.
“Although I do show my project to a few friends often, designing new levels and mechanics for the game feels like running into a raging storm blindfolded. Any criticism I get guides me where I need to go next, with every step it’s important to figure out quickly what I’m doing right and wrong and learn from it. I keep the game updated with occasional new playable versions of the game with bug fixes, improvements, and exciting new content. I work hard to write out fun, informative update devlogs, whether thousands of eager players flock to read it or not.”
Anything from your own development experiences that could benefit Havoc Fox? Anything else you’d like to add?
“I like to bounce around when I find myself slowing down working on Brooke. Let’s say I need to work on some technical fixes and suddenly I feel like I’m stomping through mud. I’ll bounce to another thing to work on like adjusting some visuals or something that’s a bit less complicated to work on. This way, progress is still made on a part of the game that needs attention, but it’s not grinding me down as hard. Sometimes you just gotta get up and take a break, even if you’re in the mood to work but can’t get anything done.
“Something that helps me is working on creative ideas and finding things that need to be fixed at night, writing them down on a small notebook, and working on them the next day. At night, I feel like my creativity is stronger, so I try to cash in on that extra vision.”
Show Sly some love! Check him out on Twitter, play Brooke vs. World Doom, and say hi to him on the Discord server!
January Fan Art Gallery
Beginning this month, we will be showcasing Havoc Fox fan art in our newsletters. The following works have been submitted to us by various members of the community through our Discord server. Check it out!
Foss by Hat Star on Discord
Grey by Nindota on Discord
Grey by SlyBalto on Discord
Grey by Veldoodles on Discord
Grey T-posing on Venice by KenKun on Discord
Riken by ArtBunny on Discord
Riken by NateFernandez on Discord
Venice by EventHorizon on Discord
Venice and Spooky by Levie on Discord
Thank you all for your submissions! If you would like to have your artwork featured, submit your drawings to the #havoc-fan-art channel on Discord!
That's all for now!
We hope your new year is off to a good start! If you haven't already, be sure to follow us on Twitter @havocfoxgame. Join the conversation on the official Discord server. Support us on Patreon! Check out the original soundtrack and development live streams on our YouTube channel! Like us on Facebook and Instagram!
Thank you for reading the January edition of the Havoc Fox Newsletter. Stay safe, stay healthy, and we hope to see you again in February!