New Kickstarter Game Project, RAW, Says That Casual Gamers Need Hardcore Games, Too

Two-man Detour Games wants to give the casual crowd a hardcore game, with RAW, a game currently in development. It will hopefully get funded as a Kickstarter project, too.

RAW will be a 2D action platformer/runner on rails for Android, OUYA, and desktop computers, and hopefully on iOS as well, if the project meets its stretch goals. In it, a cyborg juggernaut named RAW must keep running to stay charged up.

As he smashes through enemies, he earns energy that makes him run faster. If RAW maxes out his energy, he may activate RAWesomeness mode, a short power-up that makes him incredibly fast and completely unstoppable. RAW’s three basic moves are jump, dash, and shoot. These moves allow him to jump over, dash through, or just blow up anything in his way. This control scheme is simple enough to work on a smartphone, yet provides gameplay deep enough to be fun and interesting even on desktop.

In a fun bit of crowd sourcing, the devs had a submission contest in which they asked musicians to provide their own take on the project for inclusion on the game soundtrack. The process went so well, say the devs, that they’re hosting a vote on which are the best music and sound effects to be used in-game on their website.

The developers have a working demo, an almost finished game engine, a level editor, and all the designs to put it all together. They also have most of the art resources ready, in addition to the audio above.

The project goal is $5000, with 23 days to go. They’re looking to use the cash to pay for Kickstarter fees and rewards, pay for the music that was submitted (as cash rewards for the contest), and to purchase an OUYA dev kit. They’ll also use funds to pay any business and legal costs, as well as promotion and other expenses, like putting the game on Steam Greenlight.

If they receive twice their initial goal, they’ll stretch the project to iOS, and put the game on iPhone and iPad, so if you’re an Apple device owner, be sure to donate and tell all your friends, as well.

For all the details and the reward structures, head over to the RAW Kickstarter page and see more artwork and the project video to make up your mind.