Rock Paper Shotgun author and blogger, Jim Rossignol is moonlighting as a video game developer at a studio called Big Robot. Occasionally he updates everyone about the progress of his team’s PC/Mac/Linux game, Sir, You Are Being Hunted, which is currently in Alpha.
Sir, You Are Being Hunted is a game featuring robots. Tapping into a rich seam of tweed-loving British science fiction to conjure a sinister reality where artificial gentlemen hunt humans for sport.
From a development point of view, Hunted is a stepping stone to what Big Robot wants to do with their procedural-world generation project, Lodestone. The world-building tech for Lodestone is well developed, but actually they wanted to do so much with it that breaking down some of the tasks into entire spin-off games made sense. Hunted, therefore, is an experiment in the kind of intelligence required for robots to hunt each other – and you – in a dynamic open world.
Set in a recognizable British landscape generated through Unity. Its inhabitants are a mockery of the aristocratic country gent and his ecosystem. Robots that ape tea-drinking, poachers that lurk in reed-beds, and red-eyed hounds that patrol the moor: these are the things you will be dealing with as you fight for survival. The game gathers up elements of my favourite things: exploration, AI interaction, survival, robots, hot drinks, and blends them into a rich pixelly pulp. (A “British indie S.T.A.L.K.E.R.” might have been something we said in the design meetings…)
So that’s Hunted. Big Robot are also going to update their blog with a load of details about the making of this game. Regular development diaries will become a feature, while hopefully giving everyone an insight into the process through to get this lo-fi indie open-world shooter made.
Release Date:
Big Robot have not given specifics on when the game will be officially available. Figuring sometime in 2013.
However the game is currently in Alpha, so further details will be available soon.