Prepare to scream and be completely terrified by ghoulish and gruesome creatures, as Grave, an open world, procedural survival horror game, will be available on PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One simultaneously in 2015.
This year has been one fast-paced, energy drink-induced, lack-of-sleep, but infinitely rewarding, year for the husband and wife team and co-founders of Broken Window Studios, Aby and Tristan Moore.
Earlier this year, they were accepted into the ID@Xbox Program where they took full advantage of the brain power offered at Microsoft and ended up getting featured as part of the E3 presentation of the year. In addition, they successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign in April 2014, with 1,111 backers raising $37,662 of their $30,000 goal, and were Greenlit on Steam.
The game has also been featured at a variety of events such as Phoenix Comicon and Rooster Teeth Expo. Their studio was also featured on USA Today as one of the upcoming startups coming out of Arizona.
I talked more with Aby about the release on both platforms, completing that in under a year and the upcoming features gamers can expect.
“It is a huge accomplishment for us to secure both the Xbox One and the PS4 as console release platforms. We want Grave to be as accessible to its audience as possible. We received a lot of responses to previous development announcements from interested fans indicating that those were the preferred platforms,” she said.
“Personally, it has been a goal of ours to explore both PC and console release platforms since full production started in May. After such a short amount of development time (less than a year), we now can adjust our process to accommodate a much bigger launch for Grave, which is a huge moral boost for us and the team at Broken Window Studios,” Aby shared.
Related: Grave freaks out Comicon goers
Their success on Kickstarter enabled the team at Broken Window Studios to shift into high gear and code like crazy.
“Getting the Kickstarter was key to us being able to make an invested effort in production for Grave. [We were] able to work full-time and bring on a solid team. Up until that point we were working on the game in our spare time and hoping for the best. The Kickstarter breathed life into the studio and gave us the ability to build and dedicate our time to making Grave happen,” she said.
Read: Broken Windows secret to success on Kickstarter
Aby said that Grave would be consistent for gamers across all platforms. As for features, the game will continue to have dynamic changing worlds, unpredictable situations, a unique day-night gameplay, the use of non-traditional weapons, and the best part,it will continue to be compatible with the Oculus Rift (DK1 and DK2) on PC for a virtual reality experience.
“The Oculus Rift is something we’ve been passionate about integrating into the game, as we feel Grave lends itself to the immersive play experience,” Aby explains.
“Following the emphasis on immersive gameplay, we felt that the keyboard and mouse functionality was more obstructive and made the decision early on that we needed to have controller compatibility with the Oculus Rift. [Most importantly,] we want the player to feel connected to the game.
“So far, the Oculus will be supported on PC’s, and so our Steam release will feature this compatibility. We are currently looking into bringing this immersive gameplay to consoles on as equal a level as possible,” she said.
Aby shared that Grave will be a digital-only release across all platforms; Steam for PC/MAC/Linux users, and the console store direct purchase for Xbox One and PS4. As for the rating, they are anticipating a teen/16+ rating, though it isn’t finalized. She stressed that the game isn’t intended to feature excessive gore and violence and more focus on the experience.
“We are all more excited than ever to get the game ready for those platforms next year,” Aby said.
Read our extensive coverage of Grave and Broken Windows Studio at AZTB
Graphics courtesy of Broken Window Studios
