Paranautical Activity’ Devs Seek Kickstarter Funding For Final Development Stretch

‘Paranautical Activity’ Devs Seek Kickstarter Funding For Final Development Stretch
Developers Mike Maulbeck and Travis Pfenning have had quite the adventure with their procedurally generated roguelike shooter, Paranautical Activity .

. Earlier in the year, the pair dropped out of Steam Greenlight when publisher Adult Swim showed interest in helping get Paranautical Activity onto Steam. However, due to the fact that Paranautical Activity was originally on Greenlight, Valve refused to allow Adult Swim to publish the game on their platform, stating they, “didn’t want to send the message that indies can seek out publishers to bypass Steam Greenlight”.

Needless to say, that was a blow to the paranauticals of both developers, seeing as how they had essentially scrapped the momentum they had built up through Greenlight due to Adult Swim saying they would handle the rest. Luckily, what would destroy the chances (and spirits) of many indie developers, only turned out to be a glancing blow for Maulbeck and Pfenning. Paranautical Activity found a huge underground following who helped boost the game to an even bigger audience, largely through YouTube. As word of this infuriatingly tough, yet magically addicting, game spread, players were able to pick up a copyof the game through the Desura game distribution platform. The instant availability of the game to the masses undoubtedly helped Maulbeck and Pfenning financially, for some time.

However, that “some time” is coming to an end. With a Greenlight presencereestablished, and development continuing on, Maulbeck and Pfenning are coming to the bottom of their piggy banks, as far as how much time they can spend, continuing to work on Paranautical Activity . So, as many developers have done before them, the pair are turning to Kickstarter for support.

“We’ve come to Kickstarter because we don’t want to call this game done yet,” Maulbeck says on the Kickstarter campaign page. “We want to keep working on it for as long as we can to make it the best game it can be. Unfortunately, the longer we work on it, the more money it has to make to be financially viable. We’re getting dangerously close to a point where Paranautical Activity will be more expensive than we can afford, and we’ll have to wrap it up and move on.”

Maulbeck then goes on to point out that thanks to the money they earned through Desura, they only need a few thousand dollars to finish Paranautical Activity , and get the game to a place where they feel comfortable calling it finished. By meeting their funding goal, Maulbeck estimates that will allow the two of them to continue developing the game for about the next five to six months. In those months, the funding will allow them to add in many new weapons, items, enemies, and bosses. Obviously, the more money over the goal they collect, they more additional content they will be able to afford to add in: competitive multiplayer, co-op mode, and Oculus Rift support, just to name a few.

“All the big challenges are behind us. At this point it isn’t a question of if Paranautical Activity will be made, it’s a question of how awesome it will be when it’s done.”

Visit Paranautical Activity on Kickstarter, then visit the official website, and follow both Mike Maulbeckand Travis Pfenningon Twitter.