(Source: Zack’s personal website: www.zackbellgames.com) Hello everyone!
As many of you have noticed, everyone at Spaceboy Games has gone dark as far as Fara progress goes. We have been pummeled with questions over the past two months and it is about time that we come clean!
The team has secretly been working on an older personal project of mine, HackyZack! We have been quietly at work on this game for about two months now. I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to HackyZack, get into why we switched gears, and touch on what this means for the development of Fara & The Eye of Darkness.
What is HackyZack?
HackyZack is a unique take on a 2D precision-platformer that incorporates puzzle elements in the form of multi-tasking. As you make your way through each compact level, you must also carry a ball of varying properties.
Pretentious platforming is what @zackbellgames does best. But what does it take to name a game after yourself? Balls. HackyZack has been filled with balls since its original prototype in late 2014. Luckily, the other members of the Spaceboy Games team are fans of balls, as well. The group decided that HackyZack deserved an upgrade. With plenty of new mechanics, polish, a fresh art style, and a unique, original soundtrack, the new HackyZack is a kick in the balls.
Why HackyZack?
I have a feeling that most people will be curious as to why we switched gears. A lot of you played and enjoyed Fara at GDC and had assumed that we were working on that project, full-time. Well, we were! Until eight weeks ago, Fara was our sole focus. Friends and fans had been showing great interest in Fara and the game was continuing to grow and grow. A ton of variables were considered when making such a big decision, but I’ll try to keep this concise.
-Spaceboy Games is the largest team that the majority of us have worked on, and we have yet to ship a product together. We felt that a smaller project was a stronger start.
-Having some form of cash flow within the company will allow us to take our time with Fara, and really flesh it out into what we truly believe that it can be.
-For some of us, this will be their first Steam release and/or their first time working within their current role(s). If we’re going to screw up or experiment, we want to do it small. We want Fara development to run extremely smoothly.
With these points on our mind, as well as others, the team came together and decided that revamping my HackyZack prototype was the best path for us at this time.
What happens to Fara?
Fara development will continue full-time, as soon as possible. We have a TON of Fara work that is already done, but has yet to be shown (animation, additional spell cards, an entire second biome, more OST, etc). After HackyZack is launched, we will likely have a brief period where we are responding to the Steam community, patching issues that arise, etc, but we will make it a priority to work towards getting Fara into your hands, as quickly as we can!
That being said, I am proud to announce that HackyZack will be coming to Steam in August! We do not yet have a finalized release date, but the game is coming together and will be ready incredibly soon. We are very excited to see how our fans respond to this new project!
In the meantime, consider voting for HackyZack on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=727241555 As always, I greatly appreciate all of you and I am continuously humbled by all of the support that we receive. A big thank you from all of us at Spaceboy Games,
Z