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Indie Calendar - Spectra

In the run up to Christmas we'll be unwrapping a series of exciting indie titles.

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We first ran into the Hull-based indie outfit Gateway Interactive in one of the sweatiest spots of the LA Convention Center during E3. Microsoft had packed the rows of ID@Xbox titles tightly at the back of their stand and with next to no airconditioning and the machines running all day, our respect for the developers who had endured the conditions throughout the day and still enthusiastically showcased their game during the after hours event was naturally high. One of the last few left standing was Gateway Interactive's Louis Deane and you can catch our interview with him below.

Spectra

At first glance a blatantly simple concept of dodging obstacles left and right, Spectra, has that almost hypnotic quality that means you simply want to give it another go, and another... and well, you get our point.

"Spectra is a procedurally generated chiptune racer, where players can put their reactions to the test avoiding a barrage of oncoming obstacles, whilst maintain their dignity in collecting as many points as possible, as they 100% each of its 10 unique tracks, says Gateway Interactive's Jenny Eckloff when we ask her for the elevator pitch.

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The chiptune part is important to note as the history of the project is a little different than most game project as it was a "music first" kind of project as Louis Deane told us at E3.

"The journey for spectra has been completely unprecedented," says Jenny Eckloff. "In true indie dev style, the game we originally started was entirely different altogether. Spectra was born out of a brash and daring decision to book out an Expo stand at Insomnia 50, 1 week before the event. Our lead developer Louis Deane was in contact with the music artist Chipzel, and came up with the idea for the game. Over 7 days, our dev team worked tirelessly on Spectra and to our complete surprise, we had a queue of people lining up to play. We're now a year down the line in development and it's just as fun as the day we started. Spectra will be coming out onto the Xbox One very soon too, so we are really looking forward to that!"

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That's the very same Chipzel (Niamh Houston) that was responsible for the much appreciated Super Hexagon soundtrack. As Louis Deane put when we talked to him: "...she'd just released an album with really cool music and I went up to her and said 'have you got a game to go with all this?'. Cause it was really awesome sounding, I'd love to build something to it. She said 'no I haven't' so we said 'oh, can we build it for you?' and that's kind of how the game started."

What's indie development like for a young team out of Hull then?

"It's really hard work and daunting, almost impossible to do so outside of London, but we do think it's getting better," says Jenny Eckloff. "We're very lucky to be part of a collective of developers under the Platform initiative here in Hull, where we can find the right support and talent for our team."

Spectra is already out on Windows Phone and Windows 8 and a release on Xbox One is lined up for this month.

"Once the game has shipped and we can let out this long sigh of relief we've been holding in, we have big plans for 2015," explains Jenny Eckloff. "We have ideas and the background for our next title, which we plan on making much more fleshed out as a gaming experience and we can't wait to jump in with that. Who knows what the future holds? Either way we will be looking forward to it."

Gamereactor's Indie Calendar.

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Spectra

REVIEW. Written by Gillen McAllister

"It's a title we can only recommend to check out if you're a fan of this particular style of game, and even then it's not going to offer you the long-term hook the better examples and of the genre offer."



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