Final Horizon prepares alien RTS assault on PS Vita and PS4

Hi everyone, this is Si at indie developer Eiconic Games in the UK, the same developer behind recent PS Vita title Total Recoil. We’re very pleased to officially announce that our new game Final Horizon is in development for PS Vita and will also be our first tile for the PS4.

This is an RTS game like you’ve never seen before. Imagine if in James Cameron’s Aliens the Aliens attacked in robotic tanks and helicopters. That would be even more awesome, right? That’s what we’re aiming at here. Space Invaders just turned nasty.

It’s great being able to talk about the project at this early stage – it gives us a chance to share some of the process of developing a game, from the earliest designs and our hopes and plans for what we would like to accomplish within the time we have to work on the project.

I’ve been working on some concepts and models of the alien craft.

We are hard at work prototyping the gameplay and are keen to pack as much action and animation as we can into each mission.

The game is an evolution of a Tower Defence game. You won’t see the Insectors walking slowly in single file from left to right here. Without spoiling the surprise, they will use every tool at their disposal to attack the Colonists. This will be a truly 3D experience.

I loved playing Space Invaders in the arcades, but seriously? Slowly moving side to side? Those guys traveled through space and only attacked like that? The Insectors are a different breed.

Not only will they move in an alien way but they’ll have their own technology of missiles and pulse beams and…. well, we need to save some details for later.

Creatively working with insect based robots gives me the chance to work on some unique animation. To be honest, wasps and bees don’t bother me, but if I see a spider scuttling along the floor it gives me the creeps! That’s what we’re planning to do on Final Horizon. We want the Venom Wasps to buzz and dart, we want to see the Spider Tanks run, pause, run again.

And having an insect based ‘rig’ we can do much more with these craft. We want to see the Insectors get wounded, lose a leg or a wing, but still limp on.

I’ve been working on some animation tests for multi-legged robots and they are looking pretty cool, somewhat creepy. And yes spiders are not technically insects, but we’ll let that one go J.

Check back for more details as they are released, and follow the development on Facebook for more behind the scenes features. Watch the stars for Final Horizon, on PS4 and PS Vita.