So, what’s happening with Caretaker Sacrifice? Well, around about the time I was due to be releasing Caretaker Sacrifice something pretty scary happened to me. I was told that it was possible I had Cancer. I don’t mind saying that this had me bouncing off the walls. I, like most of you hadn’t really faced the concept of my own mortality but this brought it front and centre, waving it’s arms frantically in front of my face shouting ‘look at me!’ Don’t get me wrong, a Cancer diagnosis is by no means a death sentence these days but that’s honestly not the type of positive thinking you go through when being told you possibly have it. I have to stress that I’ve now been through all the tests and procedures and I am clear. The reason they thought I might have it was due to my lymph nodes being swollen and I had managed to lose a significant amount of weight in just under 3 months – I went from 117Kg to 95Kg and that’s enough to raise warning flags with doctors. How does this affect the game? The biggest impact was that the period of time when we didn’t know I was clear forced me to do a lot of thinking (and I mean a lot). My original plan was that Caretaker Sacrifice was going to be a smaller game which told the story of a sub-plot of the bigger game, to act as a kind of background as to where the bigger game was going. I would release Sacrifice in April and then go on to release Caretaker Retribution some time either later this year or next year. However, when faced with the prospect that you may not be here next year to do that I decided to dump that plan and combine them into one game. It was possibly a rash decision made under stressful circumstances but even though I’m clear the thought that none of us really knows when it’s time to checkout and power down I still want to release the games as one. So that’s what I’m doing. The plan is that I’m going to get three levels of the game done and then release it onto early access as soon as possible. Those three levels are going to be polished beyond belief though as they need to be representative of the final game and not just some buggy game thrown up onto early access. I know that some of you have been waiting a long time to play this game and I’m working as hard as I can to get it to you as soon as I can. I really can’t thank you enough for the support you’ve shown me! If there’s anything this recent scare has shown me is we never know how long we’ve got so make the most of your life now – don’t wait.

[ 2016-06-15 10:53:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

So, whats happening with Caretaker Sacrifice? Well, around about the time I was due to be releasing Caretaker Sacrifice something pretty scary happened to me. I was told that it was possible I had Cancer. I dont mind saying that this had me bouncing off the walls. I, like most of you hadnt really faced the concept of my own mortality but this brought it front and centre, waving its arms frantically in front of my face shouting look at me! Dont get me wrong, a Cancer diagnosis is by no means a death sentence these days but thats honestly not the type of positive thinking you go through when being told you possibly have it. I have to stress that Ive now been through all the tests and procedures and I am clear. The reason they thought I might have it was due to my lymph nodes being swollen and I had managed to lose a significant amount of weight in just under 3 months I went from 117Kg to 95Kg and thats enough to raise warning flags with doctors. How does this affect the game? The biggest impact was that the period of time when we didnt know I was clear forced me to do a lot of thinking (and I mean a lot). My original plan was that Caretaker Sacrifice was going to be a smaller game which told the story of a sub-plot of the bigger game, to act as a kind of background as to where the bigger game was going. I would release Sacrifice in April and then go on to release Caretaker Retribution some time either later this year or next year. However, when faced with the prospect that you may not be here next year to do that I decided to dump that plan and combine them into one game. It was possibly a rash decision made under stressful circumstances but even though Im clear the thought that none of us really knows when its time to checkout and power down I still want to release the games as one. So thats what Im doing. The plan is that Im going to get three levels of the game done and then release it onto early access as soon as possible. Those three levels are going to be polished beyond belief though as they need to be representative of the final game and not just some buggy game thrown up onto early access. I know that some of you have been waiting a long time to play this game and Im working as hard as I can to get it to you as soon as I can. I really cant thank you enough for the support youve shown me! If theres anything this recent scare has shown me is we never know how long weve got so make the most of your life now dont wait.

[ 2016-06-15 10:53:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

1000 rounds of ammo, one shield charge and a Star Killer to take down. What could go wrong?

Navigate through the Star Killer and blow up all the hubs you find to stop it destroying all the stars in the universe in this 6DOF based action game for PC, Mac and Oculus Rift (Vive support coming very soon!)

Caretaker Sacrifice stars the incredible David Hewlett, who played Dr Rodney Mckay in Stargate Atlantis and has also starred in films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Cube.

You can hear some of the (edited) story narrated by David in Caretaker Retribution here: http://caretaker-game.com/CaretakerVODemo.mp3

Stargate Atlantis
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Cube

The role of Andy Carolan in Caretaker Sacrifice is played by the talented voice actor Ed Mace.

http://edmace.com



Project “Retribution” weekly update report
Confidentiality level: department heads only

Report begins:

I’m going to confirm a rumour I’m sure most of you will have heard by now.

A Star Killer returned to the Alpha Device in a very damaged state. Every attempt we’ve made to stop these automated machines has failed, they are incredibly tough – they have to be in order to get close to a star and harvest all it’s energy, leaving it dead. So one returning in such a devastated state got everyone who saw it very excited.

Our first question was ‘who or what did this?’ because if something or somebody out there can destroy a Star Killer then there’s hope for a solution to these relentless killing machines. For the first time ever we’ve been able to explore the inside of one through the holes in the wreckage and that’s when we discovered the biggest surprise of all – we did this.

Okay, to be technical it was Commanders Alan Purdy and Andy Carolan, two pioneers sent out over 20 years ago on the Jolton mission to discover why all the stars were disappearing. They are the reason we found the Alpha Device, the place that all the Star Killers are harvesting the energy for. Even though they led us here through that signal they sent us we never knew what happened to them. Well now we know.

We found a flight recorder in the wreckage. It belonged to Commander Andy Carolan and it’s a video recording of the events that took place inside the Star Killer. It’s not as complete as we would have liked. For some reason the footage comes completely from Andy’s tactical computer which gives the world a simulated look, the ‘raw’ footage is there but after over 20 years it’s degraded too much.

Commander Alan Purdy discovered a series of connected nodes that seemed to be central to the harvesting of energy from stars. Even more important – he managed to isolate hubs within those nodes that appeared to be controlling each node. Alan surmised that destroying these hubs could be enough to disable the Star Killer. Alan’s first attempt to destroy a hub got him killed.

Each node looks to contain drones that appear to perform some kind of Caretaker role but when the safety of the node is threatened they swarm on the threat until it’s removed. While the threat is present it looks like the hubs can manufacture these Caretaker units at an incredible speed.

Having watched his colleague die from being swarmed by these Caretaker units, Commander Andy Carolan worked out an optimal way to destroy the hubs while avoiding the Caretaker units and it worked.

I never met Andy or Alan, I was too young when the Jolton missions happened and I’m going to guess you were too. They paid the ultimate sacrifice of their lives to get us this crucial information and we should honour that sacrifice by making sure that the Retribution project succeeds.