Having experienced success with Planetary Annihilation, Uber Entertainment has once again turned to Kickstarter to fund its new real-time strategy game. And, much like the original pitch for PA, this new one looks extremely promising, too.
Human Resources is a new RTS built on the same engine as PA that pits huge robots against tentaculated monsters. In the pitch video, we see what looks like a Pacific Rim-esque setup (with robots protecting humans) discarded, as both the robots and monsters devour humans for use as resources.
Beyond that novel wrinkle, the game also seems to feature a huge scale. That should come as no surprise if you're familiar with PA or the previous strategy games Uber's staff have worked on, like Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander. The pitch video makes the game appear to take place in a city initially, but we later see that battles are set on chunks of land floating in space, which allows for those chunks (called Earthshards) to be cut in half. Destruction is a key point--both terrain and buildings are "fully destructible."
Uber is seeking $1.4 million through Kickstarter in order to develop the game. That's a good deal more than the $900,000 it asked for with PA--said to be because it "has a lot more content needs"--but it's quite a bit less than the $2.2 million that ended up being pledged to PA. (PA continues to be developed by a separate team at Uber.)
Discussing the decision to come back to Kickstarter, project director John Comes said, "This is a big opportunity for us to say, 'Yes, this is the staking ground, this is how we fund real-time strategy games now.' We crowdfund it. We work with our fans. We work with the people pledging and supporting us."
There are a variety of tiers you can pledge to that will entitle you to different rewards like beta access, alpha access, a real-world statue, or an in-game billboard that you help design. If you simply want a copy of the finished game, you'll need to pledge at least $20. The current estimate for the finished game's release is February 2016, and the only platform Uber is currently aiming for is PC.
As of this writing, the Kickstarter has raised $110,000 from more than 2,600 backers. The $1.4 million goal needs to be reached by November 4, or, as with all Kickstarters, Uber won't receive any of the money.