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Xeno Crisis: a new game for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, Dreamcast, Nintendo Switch and Steam

Created by Bitmap Bureau

Xeno Crisis is a new game for the Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, Nintendo Switch and Steam. It's a top-down arena shooter for up to 2 players that is best described as Smash TV meets Aliens! Run and gun your way through thousands of enemies spread over 6 areas as you attempt to discover the cause of the alien menace.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Thanks everyone!
about 6 years ago – Fri, Jan 12, 2018 at 09:52:20 PM

Thank you to everyone that has supported the Xeno Crisis campaign and in particular the 1,289 backers for helping make the project a reality! When we launched the campaign back in December we were unsure of just how much demand there would be for a new Sega Mega Drive game in 2018, but it appears that there’s still plenty of love out there for our favourite 16-bit system! The whole team are massive fans of the Mega Drive, so it’s very exciting for all of us to be working on Xeno Crisis, and we’re determined to make the game excel in every department.

Thanks to the additional funding provided by our backers we are now able to bring Xeno Crisis to the Dreamcast, Switch and Steam too, enabling the game to reach an even greater audience. On top of that we’ve also been able to add a new female marine player character, 2-player co-op play, an extra area and boss, and a whole range of other features and additions! Everyone’s feedback and suggestions throughout the campaign have been invaluable and we’ll be looking to implement as many of these as possible in the final product.

 

What’s next?

Over the next 14 days the Kickstarter team will attempt to settle all pledges before making the funds available to us. After that is complete we’ll be sending all backers an email linking to a BackerKit survey to confirm pledge amounts and determine which add-ons (if any) you desire. At this point you’ll be able to purchase additional add-ons, switch pledges and also select your preferences for cover-art region variation, cartridge type and t-shirt size depending on your reward.

For those that didn’t manage to back Xeno Crisis during the Kickstarter campaign we have set-up an Indiegogo InDemand page, where you can pre-order Xeno Crisis. (Please note the Kickstarter Editions are not available to pre-order now that the Kickstarter campaign has completed).

 

Development

Now that the Kickstarter campaign has come to an end, we can get back to working on the development side of Xeno Crisis in earnest, although we will of course continue to answer any questions regarding the project on here, Twitter, Facebook and various forums. As you may have seen from the various videos and screenshots we’ve shared, Henk has already completed three of the tilesets and several enemies, and now his focus is on the first boss battle, so we hope to have something to show on that front soon. Catherine is working on the game’s introduction and will be moving onto key art next, followed by more of the cutscenes.

Savaged Regime is making great progress with the game’s second track, which can be heard over on SoundCloud. Mike is concentrating on prototyping the next few enemies and the first boss battle. Matt is currently stress-testing sprite tile updates through DMA and optimizing collisions to see what the maximum carnage we can get on screen is. We are also looking in more detail at hostage naming, the Dreamcast and Switch ports, and we hope to provide more details on those in due course.

Anyway, we should probably all get back to work, but thanks once again to all of you for the overwhelming support over the past month, and we’ll be keeping everyone informed of our progress via regular updates. Keep the ideas and feedback coming in, and we’ll talk to you soon!

Fifth stretch goal achieved! New audio preview…
about 6 years ago – Tue, Jan 09, 2018 at 02:42:43 PM

Our fifth stretch goal has been achieved with 24 hours remaining, and we’re now over 326% funded - we can’t believe the amazing support we’ve had during the campaign and we are truly grateful. Please keep all of your comments, suggestions and feedback coming!

Added - Nintendo Switch and Steam Ports

 

We’re pleased to confirm that with the fifth stretch goal reached we’ll be porting Xeno Crisis to the Nintendo Switch and to Steam for PC, Mac and Linux

New Audio Preview

The amazing Savaged Regime (Daniel Bärlin) has sent us a preview of the next track he’s composing for Xeno Crisis, showcasing more YM2612 wizardry! Check it out here on SoundCloud:

 

The Xeno Crisis soundtrack will be what Daniel describes as “modern prog metal / djent”, which we believe is a first for a Mega Drive game - hope you all enjoy it!

Fourth stretch goal achieved! New stretch goal and video…
about 6 years ago – Sun, Jan 07, 2018 at 03:29:23 PM

We've achieved our fourth stretch goal and now have just under 3 days remaining! We’re now over 280% funded - a massive thanks to all of you who have backed and supported us along the way!

Stretch Goals

Added - Blast Processing

We’re pleased to confirm that with the fourth stretch goal reached we’ll be pushing the Mega Drive to its limits with even more features, modes and additions for all backers!

£65,000 - Nintendo Switch and Steam Ports

We’re announcing a new stretch goal to port Xeno Crisis to the Nintendo Switch and for Steam on PC/Mac/Linux. We love the Nintendo Switch and think it’ll be great to play Xeno Crisis on a handheld device (for those of us that don’t own a Sega Nomad!).

 

We’ve added a new £10 pledge for those of you who just want the Nintendo Switch or Steam PC/Mac/Linux version, but backers of any Xeno Crisis pledge will be able to add-on £10 to their pledge to receive the Nintendo Switch or Steam PC/Mac/Linux version (you will be able to choose which version you want in a survey after the campaign).

New Video

We’ve put together a new video with some more single player and co-op footage for you. Backers can expect more exclusive previews of Xeno Crisis action in the coming weeks and months!

 

2-player footage sneak peek! 5 days to go…
about 6 years ago – Fri, Jan 05, 2018 at 12:12:12 AM

We’re well on the way to our fourth stretch goal with 5 days to go! Thanks to everyone for backing Xeno Crisis and those upgrading their pledges with add-ons! Please keep the comments and suggestions flying in, we’ve had some great ideas so far. 

 

We’ve been back in the office a couple of days and whilst we prepare an updated video with some new footage, we have a sneak peek of some 2-player co-op action to share.

We hope you like it!

Third stretch goal achieved! New stretch goal and add-ons...
about 6 years ago – Thu, Jan 04, 2018 at 03:27:22 PM

Another stretch goal achieved! We are now over 225% funded with 10 days still to go! Thank you as always for all the excellent suggestions and feedback, please keep those coming!

 

Stretch Goals

Added - New area, boss and translations

We’re pleased to confirm with the third stretch goal reached we will now be adding in a 6th area, another boss and translations into the game! Meaning more high quality content for all backers.

£55,000 - Blast Processing

We’re announcing a new stretch goal “Blast Processing” - with this stretch goal we’ll be pushing the Mega Drive to its limits with a whole range of features and additions to the game including:

  • Bonus stage
  • Boss rush mode
  • Extra enemies
  • Speed run seeds

We’ll also look to add where possible (after technically assessing and gameplay testing) a range of other backer requested extras like gore mode and a knife attack.

New and Existing Add-ons

After popular demand we’re now adding an OST CD release as an add-on, which can be yours by adding a further £10 to your existing pledge.

Limited vinyl OST release (placeholder artwork)
Limited vinyl OST release (placeholder artwork)

We’re also pleased to announce a special add-on we will be making a limited OST Vinyl release available as an add-on by adding a further £25 to your existing pledge.

For those that haven’t already realised, you can take advantage of the Dreamcast CD add-on by adding a further £20 to your existing Mega Drive physical release pledge - you will receive a Dreamcast CD, and if you're already backing the Mega Drive Kickstarter Edition or higher then your Dreamcast CD add-on will also be the Kickstarter Edition.

We will be sending out a survey after the campaign to confirm everyone’s add-ons and cartridge/box preferences.