Useful Links

• Facebook Page
• YouTube Channel
• Our SoundCloud
• Website (work in progress)

Hello everyone!

We are a group of Italian guys, based in Siena, and since some months we have been working on a project called Deep Flare: Explorer.


Description

Deep Flare: Explorer is a 2D pixel art space exploration game, set in our solar system. We have focused much on the plot by trying to create an atmosphere capable of raising the emotions related to exploring the unknown.

No, it is not a procedural or a multiplayer game, it is instead a good old single player experience with handmade levels. The game features crafting elements through which the player will be able to upgrade his spaceship, and 2D shoot'em up elements, but the gameplay is not as focused on shooting as it is on avoiding the dangers that our solar system has hidden away from us.

So, what is your objective in the game? Well, as every self-respecting space travel, it will be clear since the beginning that not everything will go as expected. There will be a large number of unforeseen obstacles, ranging from “trivial” ones like landing successfully onto a rugged surface without damaging your spaceship, to extreme and critical ones like escaping an imminent meteor shower or a sandstorm... or something else. ;)

For each obstacle found, the player has to use creatively the instruments available in order to get by as best as he can.



Plot

The game is set in a not so distant future. The protagonist is the pilot of a spacesphip sent off to explore our solar system in order to investigate about a mysterious event called “Deep Flare”. Above all, he will have to face the unknown, with its fears and worries. In an age when humankind has lost itself, you will have to find it again by going through the darkness.

On our facebook page we are currently presenting some material about the plot background. Here is a little preview.

[video=youtube]https:[/video]

All videos, in chronological order

• The Helios Mission
• The Secrecy of the Helios Mission
• The Launching of the Helios Mission
• To be continued...

Some information about our team

As already said, we are a group of guys from in and around Siena who have decided since some months to team up and start writing code, composing music and drawing. The first two members were me, Matteo Paradisi (Game Designer) and Michele Amadio (Programmer), then Andrea Filippi (Graphic Designer), Simone Bonucci (Composer and Drawer), Paolo Eusepi (Sound Designer and Mixer) and Gabriele Sciarri (Translator) have joined the team.

Contacts

By now you can find us at our facebook page. We should have a website up and running in a short time though.



We hope you will like our work!

Some other screenshots. As you can see, we are experimenting with different styles :)

Let me show you the icy surface of Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter.

That looks beautiful.

That looks beautiful.

Thank you!

One can find romance even on an icy moon orbiting around Jupiter.

Icy rain on an icy moon

Our module is equipped with turbines and directional beacons for underwater exploration.
Here's a little demonstration...

New week, new background video!

[video=youtube]https:[/video]

But let's go on.

From today we'll start explaining the gameplay. Let's start from the very basics: the control system and the movement with the exploration module.

The controls will be keyboard-based, but with full gamepad support.

Let's talk about the movement.
In Deep Flare: Explorer, each celestial body will pull the player towards it, according to their masses and distance. Therefore while moving on the surface of a planet you will fall downwards to the ground.

To fight gravity, you will be able to rotate the module and fire the engines.

Using the left and right arrow keys, or the left analog stick, you will rotate the module, while pressing the up arrow key or the A\X button on the gamepad, you will fire the engines, moving according to your rotation.

Here's a gif - showing keyboard key pressed in the up-right corner - to make it clear:



Firing the engines will consume fuel, so be careful... ;)

Let's keep talking about gameplay. Another fundamental tool our module can use is the tractor beam.



Pressing the T key on the keyboard, or the B\CIRCLE button on the gamepad, a green light will be turned on: this tells us that the tractor beam is active.
Getting close enough to a mobile object (with the lower end of the module), it will be captured by the beam and we'll become able to move it around. This way, several objects can be taken to the ship and put in the inventory, an obstructed passage can be freed, and so on... ;)

Hi everyone! :)

We forgot to check in for a while but we didn't stop working on the project, so there's a lot of juicy news.

First of all, we have a playable alpha set on Europa. It includes most of the planned gameplay, even if not 100% of it.
You can download it from our IndieDB page or from itch.io. :)

We planned our Kickstarter campaign to start on April 9th so there's not much time left!

Last but not least, we started a brand new video series about the backstory, this one set in the '90s. Meet Kara Walker, daughter of Gary Walker, as she makes her first steps in becoming one of the pivotal characters of Deep Flare: Explorer.
Here's the first video!

(Click on the image to watch it)


And remember T minus 13 days and counting! :)