Ghost Police Turns to Kickstarter for Soundtrack Funding

Shoot-em-up style games have been around since the early era of consoles, but not many have quite taken this angle on the genre.

is a “non-shooting shooter” where players must fight the computer for domination of the screen. In order to navigate their two ships across the obstacles, players must mold the terrain to their will.

Set sometime in 20 thCentury New York, Ghost Police tells the story of a “distortion in time and space that has invaded the city” known as the Void. The Void takes over everything that it touches, and it also allows ghosts to invade the city. Players take on the role of two detectives to discover the secrets of a well-known family and what they have to do with the unleashing of the Void.

Compared to shoot-em-ups where players just fire at whatever they see, Ghost Police requires players to think strategically about their next move. The visuals harken back to the early-era shmups of the Gameboy and NES, and they are completely hand-drawn.

Steve McCarthy is launching a Kickstartercampaign for Ghost Police , but it’s not for funding the entire game. The game itself is fully funded, but he’s hoping to raise money for an 8-bit soundtrack created by composer Jake Kaufman, who also worked on the Shovel Knight soundtrack. They’ll be using the N163 sound chip that Namco used in early NES games. The base funding level is the budget for music, while stretch goals are included for a more advanced soundtrack, a Mac/Linux release, and a 3DS launch of the game.

For more information about Ghost Police , interested players can try out the game demo through Google Driveand help fund the soundtrack through Kickstarter. Follow Steve McCarthy on Twitterand Tumblrfor more information about Ghost Police ; Jake Kaufman has his own websiteand SoundCloudwhere people can check out his previous work. Follow him on Twitterand “like” his page on Facebook.