The Story

The Retro Alpaca Team

April 2, 2019

Looking Forward

Our fantasy adventure game, Steadfast, has been in development for about a year and we’re so proud of how far it’s come. Knowing very little about game development, we learned how to create pixel art, music, and develop games in Unity.

We wrote a captivating story that was an epic fantasy adventure and, at the same time, focused on an intimate family drama.

We look forward to the day when we release our story so that you too can enjoy the immersive world of Marrowell and her inhabitants.

The problem is that the scope of Steadfast is very ambitious and a long way off from becoming a reality–-at least in the state we’re envisioning. Our desire, the deep conviction to slow down and do Steadfast the justice it deserves, lead us to correct our course and solve the problem by relieving pressure, while simultaneously providing players with a game they can own and love in the near future.

Introducing…

Paradise Terrestrial, a fast-paced, story-based, platforming game.

The concept, which we’ll breakdown through the course of this article, is that we want to combine a meaningful story with an arcade-style game. We want you, the player, to be able to pick it up and put it down and enjoy it on your time with little commitment to a massive story.

The game will have no save points and few cutscenes, but will instead take you from beginning to end—or as far as you can get—every single run. It will feature a self-motivating scoreboard to encourage you to run farther, jump higher, and collect more as you improve your skills on each play through.

We want to draw you in with fantastic gameplay then keep you immersed with a gripping narrative and an emotional experience.

The Story

At Retro Alpaca, we value the story. The gameplay is important and integral to the overall experience, but we believe it’s the story that makes you feel something more and it’s what makes you want to come back. That’s why our new game is, at its heart, a story.

This game is about a creature who has mysteriously fallen from the skies to a desolate, hungry planet. The planet, itself, is an oppressive force, desperate to smother all life that falls to its rotten surface.

The creature you play as is one of many of its kind bound by the grip of this monster world. Moved by conviction and courage, and the discovery of power within yourself, you struggle free from your restraints, bound for home, the monster in relentless pursuit.

Will you be able to escape the clutches of this worldly terror?

The Gameplay

Paradise Terrestrial is a breath of fresh air in the platforming genre. It combines strategic elements of platforming classics such as Super Mario with the fast paced pursuits found in Temple Run and Subway Surfers.

Its world map will be composed of obstacles which are laid out differently each run, providing a unique, challenging, and refreshing experience while still maintaining aesthetic continuity between playthroughs.

Throughout the game, you will earn new abilities. You’ll start simple: running and jumping. Then you’ll learn to slide, then to wall jump, fly, spin, and more—all skills you’ll need to use strategically to gain speed, avoid obstacles, and stay out of the reach of your pursuer.

Keeping with the traditions of old school arcade games, you’ll receive a high score which accounts for distance travelled, collectibles collected, and other interesting multipliers.

We are so excited for you to experience this pulsing, fast-paced, multi-faceted platformer that we hope you’ll love just as much as we do.

The Progress

While we have little to show so far for our new game, we’re looking forward to sharing a lot with you in the coming weeks and months. We’re not empty handed, however.

We’ve made it through the planning process, plotting out the story arc, the move set, the themes, phases, art style, and design.

We’ve also begun working on assets, such as pixel art and music. The soundtrack for the game will move away from chip tunes and towards more ambient, emotional tracks. Here are a few samples of ideas we’re tossing around:

Finally, we’ve begun working on gameplay mechanics an level design.

As we continue to build momentum, we plan to be active on social media. However, if you want to stay connected, the best way to do that is to subscribe to our newsletter.

Have No Fear

Steadfast is still in active development.

While we’re super excited to be sharing this news about a brand new game, we don’t want to give the slightest impression that we’re killing Steadfast. In fact, as we mentioned before, one of the reasons we’re developing this game is so that we can have some fun and roll out a great game to our players while allowing us to slow down and take our time doing Steadfast the right way.

Steadfast is still in active development. We’re currently working through some new and improved drafts and artwork around Steadfast: Chapter Zero. We’ve also made some decisions and roadmap changes about its release that we’ll be able to share with you in the near future!

For now, thank you so much for following our progress. We hope you’re as excited about this new adventure as we are.

As always, you can connect with us via social media accounts found at our website.

Thanks for being awesome!

The Retro Alpaca Team