If you have not heard from me yet - Derelict Void, a game we've been making over the past year (read the full story here), is currently running a campaign on Kickstarter. I thought I'd elaborate a bit the different kinds of pledges and what they offer because I realized I never explained that before:

Shuttle ($33 or more)
In addition to getting a copy of the game and getting a backer skin for your starting hull, your name will appear in the credits because you will also get to be a playtester (if the first thing you do after starting a game is to try and break it, this one is for you!). Personally, I would love to have more people help us fine-tune the game to perfection. There will be things that players can see that are difficult for the devs to see (since some of us have been looking at the same stuff for over a year now).

Cassini-Huygens ($80 or more)
Okay. This one is important. (I am biased.) Starting THIS pledge tier, in addition to getting a copy of the game, an upgraded backer skin for your starting hull, playtester access to builds and Discord, and your name appearing in the credits, you get a digital ART BOOK! You wouldn't want to miss all of Irene's concept art and illustrations, like this:

Today, I feel compelled to write about why I'm going bananas over Derelict Void.

A few years ago, my boyfriend (at the time) showed me a video that is very dear to me: "My Life of Starcraft - Day[9] Daily #100" by Sean Plott, also known as Day[9] - funsmith, streamer/caster and Starcraft Broodwar player (I'll refer to him as Day[9]). 

(I still come back to this video every half year or so because it is so energizing to watch every single time.) From then on, I started watching Day[9]'s videos on YouTube here and there, and in the summer of 2019 I discovered the "DayKnight 30 Day Project" (DK30).

What is a DK30? (Excerpt taken from https://day9.tv/dk30-about)

Here is a video of Day[9] himself explaining what a DK30 is, what the DK30 website does, and how to set up a DK30 project for success:

In Fall 2019, in addition to the usual DK30 projects, they were also running a DK30 Game Jam (like the Fall 2020 video shown above), where programmers and artists and designers can sign up, get assigned into groups, and work together to make a little game in 30 days. The theme for the 2019 DK30 Game Jam was "Day/Night."

In 2019, my fiance was wrapping up work at a logistics company because he was burnt out from corporate culture. He had been doing data analysis-related things in various contexts for nearly a decade at this point, and started to consider switching into a different industry... like the videogame industry. It had always been in his mind to do something more creative - like writing a story or designing a game, and eventually founding a studio. So I said to him: Would it be worth signing up for the game jam? It would be a good experiment - if this game jam turns out to work well, that's potentially one step towards joining a game studio, or even building one.

After much encouragement (read: convincing), my fiance (I will refer to him as "inertious") signed up for the game jam. His teammates were Korius (designer and engineer), Berndy (engineer), and AsterPiano (music composer). They created Stirling Eclipse, a puzzle/driving game where you need to manage hot and cold to propel your stirling-engine-powered vehicle. 

You can download Stirling Eclipse here by the way! https://berndy.itch.io/stirling-eclipse Personally, I am eagerly waiting for a remaster and more levels :)

During the development of Stirling Eclipse, inertious and Berndy realized that they were both space nerds and started to discuss developments with SpaceX and other space news on a regular basis. At some point, they discussed space game ideas, and the idea of a ‘space salvager’ came up. inertious and Berndy decided that since they had a good experience working with everyone on Stirling Eclipse they would try and pitch the idea to AsterPiano and Korius and see if they would be interested in pursuing it as well.

As inertious and Berndy started to piece the 'space salvager' game ideas together, ZoidbergTheGreat showed up; Zoidberg had seen Stirling Eclipse and was interested in the team that had made it. Berndy (who is an amazing natural recruiter... talent just gravitates towards him) brought Zoidberg into the team. It was around this time when AsterPiano gracefully bowed out and Korius came on board.

The next DK30 (January 2020) was on the horizon and two new faces showed up: SmokingOkapi (artist and animator) found the budding team on the DayKnights discord server with Berndy bringing him in. Juan (3D modeler and cinematic director) was introduced to the team by Zoidberg. The team's supporter Glademist also came over from the DayKnight community to weigh in on game design ideas. For the January 2020 DK30, the team embarked on a very ambitious task - to put together a prototype of the game that would eventually grow into Derelict Void. (Meanwhile, I was doing my own DK30 project that got this website going.)

In the Spring of 2020, Juan introduced Irene (concept artist) to the team, and then I was introduced to the team by inertious (who became my husband), to help out with whatever in my free time. Eventually I ended up spearheading the UI design of Derelict Void. :O

In short, Stirling Games and Derelict Void would not have happened without Day[9] and the DayKnight community. THANK YOU! We will continue to work to make you proud <3

Mmmm, what a view.

Also: bonus eagle!